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SKETCHES 



OF 



PEOTESTANTISM IN ITALY 



PAST AND PRESENT. 



INCLUDING A 



NOTICE OF THE ORIGIN, HISTORY, AND PRESENT STATE 



OF 



THE WALDENSES 



BY ROBERT BAIRD. 



BOSTON: 

BENJAMIN PERKINS & CO 
1845, 






Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1845, 

BY BENJAMIN PERKINS AND CO. 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



/ 



boston: 

S. N. DICKINSON, PRINTER, 
52 Washington Street. 



TO 

THE HONORABLE DANIEL WALDO, 

THIS VOLUME, 

WnrCH GRATEFULLY COMMEMORATES 

THE PIETY AND ZEAL 

OF HIS REVERED AND EXCELLENT ANCESTORS, 

ESPECIALLY 

PETER WALDO, OF LYONS, 

?rge ISittovmtv of tfjr ®:toelft5 (ttntntSf 

IS MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 
BY HIS FRIEND. 



THE AUTHOR. 



L 



i 



INTRODUCTION. 



In presenting this volume to the public, the author begs 
leave to make a few remarks by way of preface. 

At an early period of his sojourn in Europe, he was 
kindly solicited by gentlemen in England, as well as in his 
native land, to prepare a work on the state of religion on the 
Continent. And since the publication of his Religion in 
America^ he has often been asked whether he does not 
intend to prepare a work, correlative and correspondent, on 
Europe. But however much he may desire to comply with 
such suggestions and such requests, his official and other 
duties are too numerous and too pressing to permit him to 
hope to be able to accomplish such a task within a short 
time. All that he can do is to prepare, at intervals, a 
volume relating to a part of the great field in question. In 
the present work he has made a beginning. And should 
this effort to delineate the religious state of the country to 
which it relates be favorably received by the Christian 
public, and God grant life and health, it will be followed 
at no very distant day by similar volumes, relating to 
France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Eussia, etc. 

In this volume, the author has endeavored to give the 
reader such information respecting the history, present con- 



vi INTRODUCTION. 

dition, and future prospects of pure Christianity in Italy, as 
it is in his power to communicate. The work consists of 
three nearly equal parts. The first relates to the rise, 
progress, and suppression of the Reformation in Italy. In 
this portion of the hook, he has availed himself extensively 
of the invaluable w^ork of the late excellent Dr. McCrie on 
the same subject. He has, however, added many things, 
derived from various sources, which the reader will find 
duly indicated as he advances. 

The second part describes the state of things in Italy since 
the Reformation, and though quite miscellaneous in its sub- 
jects and details, it will probably be read with interest by 
those who desire to know the state of things in that beautiful, 
but spiritually benighted country. 

The third part contains as full a notice of the Waldenses, 
their origin, their country, their history, and their present 
condition and prospects, as the nature of this work would 
permit. It does not profess to be a full history of that 
wonderful people — a great desideratum, for we have noth- 
ing in English which is worthy of the name. Some notice 
of the Waldenses was necessary in a w^ork w^hich undertakes 
to speak of Protestantism in Italy, past and present. 

A map accompanies the volume, on which the valleys 
inhabited by the Waldenses are delineated w^ith sufiicient 
accuracy to give the attentive reader some idea of their 
mountain-home. On a corner of that map, will be seen the 
beautiful and appropriate insignia of that heaven-preserved 
people, consisting of seven stars surrounding a blazing lamp, 
encircling which runs the appropriate motto: Lux lucet 



INTRODUCTION. Vll 

IN Tenebris.* May it ever shine in those valleys, until 
all the surrounding region shall be full of the light of the 
glorious gospel of Jesus Christ ! 

The reader will learn that, deplorable as is the religious 
state of Italy, there are some things which encourage. 
Some rays of truth are reaching the minds of a portion, 
however small, of the inhabitants. The Bible is demanded ; 
and to some extent it is obtained, read, and highly prized. 
And whilst thick darkness, like that which rested upon 
Egypt of old, covers that interesting country, there is still a 
* land of Goshen ' in the valleys of Piedmont, in which there 
is light. 

The reader will learn that there are nearly forty Protest- 
ant ministers of the gospel in Italy at present, about one 
half of whom are laboring as pastors and professors in the 
valleys of the Waldenses. And if this volume should be the 
means, under God's blessing, of leading those who read it to 
pray definitely and earnestly for the influences of his Spirit, 
to render the Truth which may be preached by these min- 
isters, or which may be read on the pages of the Holy 
Scriptures, and religious books and tracts, effectual to the 
salvation of many souls, and the extension of Christ's 
kingdom in that land, it will not have been written in vain. 

One word more. The author feels that if this work should 
contribute in any measure, however small, to engage those 
who read it to take a deeper interest in the conversion of 
Roman Catholic nations to true Christianity, his highest 



* Light shining in Darkness. 



Vlll INTRODUCTION. 

wishes will have been accomplished. This is a subject 
which he deems of paramount importance. We are sending 
the gospel to the heathen, and often to nations whose influ- 
ence is nothing in the world; and in doing so, we are 
passing by powerful Roman Catholic countries, which are 
almost as destitute of the true gospel as the heathen them- 
selves. And yet a little reflection would teach us, that the 
world cannot be converted without the regeneration of 
Roman Catholic countries. Every year shows more and 
more clearly that Rome is putting forth all her energies, to 
recover what she has lost, and to conquer Protestant nations. 
She plants her missions, too, in heathen countries, wherever 
the Protestants plant theirs, and does all that she can to 
counteract all their efforts in that direction. What, then, 
is our duty in reference to the Roman Catholic world? 
Evidently, first, to carry the Truth into every country 
which is under the dominion of Romanism as quickly 
and as extensively as possible, wherever the way is open ; 
and, secondly, to pray without ceasing that, where the 
way is not open for doing this, it may be, speedily, in 
the good providence of God. The Protestant world cannot 
afford to sleep much longer over this subject. And the very 
success which is attending the efforts that are making to 
introduce the Word of God, and in other ways to promote 
the Truth in Catholic countries, should encourage us in the 
hope that the time has come for the Reformation to recom- 
mence its glorious career. 

New York, April 1, 1845. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PART I. 

REFORMATION IN ITALY. 
CHAPTER I. 

ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 12-36. 

Struggles for the Truth, 14. Paganism in the Church, 15. Ambrose 
and Claude, 16. The Paulicians, 17. Light in dark places, 18. Ar- 
naldo da Brescia, 19. Adrian IV., and Arnaldo, 21. Savonarola, 23. 
Savonarola and Alexander VI., 26. Influence of the Revival of Learn- 
ing, 28. Dante, 30. Petrarch and others, 31. Need of Reformation 
felt by some in the Church, 34. Reformation a difficult work, 35. 

CHAPTER 11. 

ENTRANCE OF THE REFORMATION INTO ITALY. 37-51. 

Preparation for the Reformation — Revival of Letters, 37. John Reuch- 
lin, 38, Erasmus, 39. Reuchlin's Quarrel with the Dominicans, 40. 
Letters of some obscure Men, 41. Writings of the Refonners pene- 
trate into Italy, 42. Study of the Scriptures, 44. Translation of the 
Scriptures into Italian, 46. Circumstances which favored the Entrance 
of the Reformation into Italy, 47. Need of a Reformation felt by some, 
even in the Vatican, 50. 

CHAPTER III. 

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN ITALY. 52-84. 

Progress of the Reformation in Venice, 52. It spreads in Milan, 56. 
It gains ground in Mantua, 57. The Truth enters Locarno, 58. The 
Reformation spreads at Capo dTstria, 59. Progress of the Reforma- 
tion at Ferrara, 60. At Modena, 63. In the States of the Church, 65. 
In Lucca, Pisa, and Sienna, 69. In the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, 
70. Unhappy Controversies between the Protestants- in Italy, 74. 
Doctrines of the RefoiTnation embraced by some distinguished Ladies 
in Italy, 78. Favored by distinguished Men, 79. 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 85-136. 

Ochino and Martyr fly, 86. Celio Secundo Curio escapes, 88. Eeor- 
ganization of the Inquisition in Italy, 89. Persecution in Modena, 91. 
The Reformed Doctrine extirpated at Ferrara, 92. Persecution rages 
in Venice and its Territories, 97. Protestants driven from Locarno, 
100. Persecution in Milan, Mantua, and Cremona, 104. Dispersion 
of the Reformed Church at Lucca, 105. Persecution at Florence and 
other places in Tuscany, 107. Persecution at Naples, 108. Destruc- 
tion of the Waldenses in Calabria, 110. Persecution in the Pope's 
Dominions, 117. Distinguished Italian Martyrs, 120. Suppression 
and Destruction of Books, 133. 



CHAPTER V. 

DISPERSION OF THE ITALIAN PROTESTANTS ; THE CHURCHES 
OF THE SAME WHICH WERE FORMED IN FOREIGN 
LANDS. 137-166. 

Italian Protestant Churches in the Grisons and their Dependencies, 137. 
Italian Protestant Churches in Switzerland, 149. At Geneva, 153. In 
France, 158. In Germany, 159, In the Netherlands, 161. At Lon- 
don, 163» Concluding Remarks, 164. 



PART II 



ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL STATE OF ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

169-202. 

Political Changes through which Italy has passed since the RefoiTnation, 
170. Progress of Civilization in Italy since the Reformation, 176. 
Procuress of the Fine Arts, 180. State of Education in Italy since the 
Reformation, 183. State of Literature in Italy since the Reformation, 
190. Political and Social Condition of Italy at present, 193. 



CONTENTS. 11 



CHAPTER II. 

STATE OF RELIGION IN ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

203-261. 

Rome at length awakes to a sense of the Danger which menaces her, 203. 
The old Religious Orders purified and enlarged, and new ones created, 
208. The Council of Trent, 224. Reaction in favor of Romanism, 
227. Reaction against Romanism, 232. Life and Vigor now return 
to both Protestantism and Romanism, 233. Sacred Literature in Italy 
since the Reformation, 235. Character of the Roman Catholic Clergy 
in Italy, 238. State of the Monastic Establishments in Italy, 242. 
Character of the Religion of the Italians, 250. State of Morality in 
Italy, 253. Encouraging Signs in Relation to Italy, 258. 



CHAPTER III. 

PROTESTANT CHAPELS IN ITALY. 262-282. 

Protestant Chapels at Rome, 265. At Naples, 268. At Messina, 270. 
At Palermo, 271. At Leghorn, 271. At Florence, 272. At Venice, 
273. At Genoa, 2^4. At Bergamo, 275. At Milan, 275. At Turin, 
276. At Nice, 278. Occasional Protestant Services, 279. Protestant 
Chaplains in the Army of Naples, 279. Summary, 280. 



PART III. 



THE HISTORY, PRESENT STATE, AND PROSPECTS OF 
THE WALDENSES. 

CHAPTER I. 

ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE WALDENSES. 285-300. 

Their Name, whence derived, 286. Their Origin, 287. Opinions of the 
Waldenses themselves respecting their Origin, 288. Testimony of 
their Enemies on this subject, 291. Why the Waldenses are called 
Leonists, 293. Testimony of Rorenco, Cassini, and others, to the An- 
tiquity of the Waldenses, 295. Opinion of Voltaire respecting the 
Origin of the Waldenses, 297. Opinions of distinguished Protestants 
in Relation to this subject, 298. The Antiquity of the Waldenses fur- 
ther attested by the Antiquity of the Dialect which they speak, 299. 



12 CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER II. 

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY INHABITED BY 
THE WALDENSES. 301-330. 

A general Notice of their Territory, 301. Valley of Luseme, 306. Val- 
ley of Rora, 313. Valley of Perouse, 315. Valley of St. Martin, 318. 
Valley of Angrogna, 326. Concluding Remarks, 328. 



CHAPTER III. 

HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES. 331-368. 

The Waldenses belonged at first to the General Church, 331. Peter 
Waldo and his followers, 335. Number of the Waldenses about this 
Period, 337. Their ancient Missionary Spirit, 338. Beginning of 
Persecution in the Valleys, 341. Crusades against the Waldenses 
commenced, 343. Second Crusade against the Waldenses, 344. The 
Valleys come under the Government of France, 345. Persecution re- 
newed by Emanuel Philibert, 346. State of things grows worse, 348. 
The horrible Massacre in sixteen hundred and sixty -five, 349. Effect 
upon Protestant Europe, 350. The State of the Waldenses continues 
deplorable, 353. Last and most dreadful War, 354. Their glorious 
Return to their Valleys, 357. Striking Analogies in their History, 359. 
Unworthy Conduct of Victor Amadeus at the last, 360. Subsequent 
History of the Waldenses, 362. Renewed Interest felt in their Behalf, 
365, 

CHAPTER IV. 

PRESENT STATE OF THE WALDENSES ; THEIR ECCLESIAS- 
TICAL ORGANIZATION ; THEIR DOCTRINES ; THEIR MODE 
OF WORSHIP, ETC. 369-413. 

Visit of the Author to the Valleys, 369. His first Impressions upon ar- 
riving in the land of the Waldenses, 371. History of the Waldenses 
appalling, 375. Second Visit to the Valleys, 376. Names of the 
present Pastors and Ministers in the Valleys, — their Character, 376. 
Labors of the Waldensian Pastors, — their Style of Preaching, 378. 
Mode of conducting Public Worship in the Churches of the Valleys, 
381. Liturgy of the Waldensian Churches, 383. Polity of the Evan- 
gelical Church of the Valleys, 386. Doctrines of the Waldensian 
Churches, 394. Roman Catholic Influence in the Valleys, 398. State 
of Religion among the Waldenses, 399. State of Morals among the 
Waldenses, 401. State of Education in the Valleys, 404. Our Last 
Days in the Valleys, 408. 



PART I. 



PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY. 



PART I 



PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY: PAST AND PRESENT. 



CHAPTER L 

ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

There are few countries witli whicli so many interesting 
associations are connected as Italy. The philosopliical stu- 
dent of History looks upon it as the seat of the longest-con- 
tinued and most-extended dominion over the nations ; for it 
is the country in which the fourth great monarchy arose, and 
extended its rule over all the then civilized world. And 
when that vast empire came to an end, another, of a religio- 
political nature, arose on its ruins, whose influence over man- 
kind has been far greater than that of its predecessor. Thus 
the dominion of ancient Eome and its Caesars, has been per- 
petuated in modern Rome and its Popes. 

The statesman regards it as the great centre of the politi- 
cal movements which have agitated the world for the last 
twenty-five centuries, and from which, more than any other, 
they have received their impulse and direction. The military 
man delights to contemplate it as the land of Scipio, of Sylla, 
2 



14 ITALY BEFOKE THE REFORMATION. 

of Cassar, of Germanicus ; as the scene of many of tlie most 
renowned battles of ancient and modern times. The friend 
of liberty feels his heart to burn within him, as he looks upon 
the country of Brutus, of Cato, of Arnaldo da Brescia, and 
many others, who resisted tyranny, and lost their lives in the 
struggle. 

To the scholar, Italy has indescribable charms, as the land 
of Virgil, of Cicero, of Livy, of Tacitus, of Dante, of Tasso, 
of Petrarch, of Boccaccio, and a host of others, whose writ- 
ings have enlightened, stimulated, and guided the minds and 
polished the manners of men. 

To the Christian, it ranks next, in point of interest, to that 
land which was trodden by the Saviour of the world ; for it 
was visited by Apostles ; it was the scene of some of the ear- 
liest and most glorious conquests of Christianity, and its soil 
has been steeped in the blood of martyrs. 

But to a Protestant Christian there is much in Italy to 
excite deep and peculiar emotions ; for it is the land in which 
the great Mystery of Iniquity gradually arose, and grew, 
till it overpowered the Truth in all parts of Christendom, save 
in some of its own Alpine valleys, and filled the Christian 
world with the ignorance and superstition of a baptized pa- 
ganism. 

I. Struggles for the Truth, 

It is a remarkable fact that the Papal Antichrist nowhere 
encountered a more steady, long-continued, or powerful oppo- 
sition, than in Italy itself. In that country. Truth had an 
uninterrupted succession of defenders, from the days of the 
Apostles till the Reformation. It was in her mountain-valleys 
in Piedmont, that the true Church found a retreat during more 
than a thousand years ; whilst all the rest of Christendom 
gradually, and at length universally, bowed beneath the 
dominion of the ' Man of sin.' 



PAGANISM IN THE CHURCH, 15 

Many reasons for tliis may be assigned. Great as was the 
ignorance of the masses in the villages and smaller towns, 
even in the fourth century of the Christian era, still, in a 
number of cities and large towns, there was a considerable 
amount of intelligence and education among the middle and 
higher classes. In Milan and Turin, for instance, the higher 
clergy resisted the arrogant assumptions of the Bishop of 
Rome until the eleventh century. 

And whilst the conquest of Italy by the barbarians from 
the north, in the fifth century, tended to increase the corrup- 
tion of Christianity, which had long since commenced, through 
tlie incorporation of heathen rites and ceremonies, under the 
pretext of gaining over the invading pagans, it also, by creat- 
ing many antagonistic influences, rendered it easy for Truth 
to find protection under one or another of these. The con- 
tests between the Frankish monarchs and the partisans of 
the popes, and those between the latter and the emperors of 
Germany, were favorable to the few who desired, even in the 
midst of these scenes, to maintain the gospel in something 
like its original purity. And it was not tiU the popes had 
succeeded in effectually establishing their authority over the 
civil governments of that country, that they found leisure to 
subdue recusant bishops and people. At a later penod, also, 
the Great Schism, and the struggles between the popes and 
anti-popes, were favorable to the friends of Truth by weak- 
ening its enemies. 

II. Paganism in the Church. 

It is a matter of history, that, as early as the fourth cen- 
tury, gross superstition had gained much ground in the Chris- 
tian Chur<jh. To conciliate the votaries of polytheism, who 
were stiU exceedingly numerous throughout the empire, the 
Christian hierarchy in the days of Constantino, and after- 
wards, thought it expedient to leave as many of the old popu- 



16 ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

lar superstitions in practice, as might be varnished over and 
adapted to Christian worship. Certain helps to devotion, as 
they were termed, were retained ; such as images, pictures, 
processions, relics, pilgrimages, votive-offerings, expiatory 
performances, and self-inflicted bodily penances. Veneration 
of saints, and of the bones of departed saints, followed. Aban- 
donment of the world for the life of a hermit became the 
highest style of piety. And by a regular succession of cor- 
ruptions Christianity gave place to a degrading superstition, 
which was little better than pure heathenism. ' The fine gold 
became dim,' and truth was almost wholly lost amid the mass 
of error, wliich entered the sacred precincts of the Church and 
took up its abode there. 

Indeed, the earliest of the Christian fathers show in their 
writings the current wliich things were taking, even in their 
days. And in the fifth century, the great and good Augustine, 
that able defender of the faith which saves, was far from 
being free from the superstition which prevailed around him, 
and which, after his day, reigned almost without opposition 
for a thousand years. 

III. Ambrose mid Claude, 

Nevertheless, God raised up, from time to time, some who 
nobly maintained the truth. The followers of the excellent 
Ambrose, an archbishop of Milan, in the latter part of the 
fourth century, long resisted the errors to which we have 
referred, as well as the claims of the Bishop of Rome. Even 
to this day, there are some remains in the diocese of that city, 
of the good influence of the doctrines and practices of that 
great man. 

And it is truly refreshing to come down to the times of 
Claude, Bishop of Turin, in the early part of the ninth cen- 
tury, and contemplate the noble position which that excellent 
man took in defence of the pure gospel. In his writings, the 



THE PAULICIANS. 17 

unscriptural vanity of saint-worsliip, image-worsliip, relic- 
worship, idle pilgrimages to Eome, formal penances, the su- 
premacy of the self-styled successors of Peter, are admirably 
exposed and severely rebuked. In his commentary on the 
Epistle to the Galatians, he ably repels the claims of 
Rome, maintains the doctrine of justification by faith alone, 
denies the imaginary infallibihty of the church, declares 
heresy to consist in departing from the Word of God, and 
affirms that there was no want of such heretics in the bosom 
of the Church in his day. '^ His writings are singularly free 
from the superstitions, even of the incomplete popery of the 
ninth century. 

IV. The PofidicianSy 

The cause of evangelical truth in the north part of Italy 
was strengthened for a time, by the immigration of memxbers 
of the sect of Paulicians, in the latter part of the tenth cen- 
tury, or the beginning of the eleventh. These greatly vilified 
people, whom the Roman Catholic writers have never ceased 
to stigmatize as Manicheans, seem to have derived their exis- 
tence, as a denommation of Christians, from the teaching of 
one Constantine, who lived in Armenia, about the middle of 
the seventh century. Their name was probably derived 
from the apostle Paul, whose writings their founder greatly 
admired. After enduring much persecution from the Greek 
emperors, they emigrated from their native land to Europe, 
and j)^3sing through Thrace and Bulgaria, they came at 
length to Germany and Italy, and finally penetrated into the 
south of France, where, blending with the faithful disciples of 
Jesus Christ, who were still to be found in that country, they 
were called the Albigenses. Ecclesiastical history informs 
us that they had a considerable number of churches in the 

1 See An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vdllenses and Alhi^ 
genses, etc., by G. S- Faber, D. D. Book III., Chap. IV., pp. .306-329. 

2* 



18 ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

Valley of the Po, and that their doctrines spread in all the 
chief towns of the north of Italy. By this means the Truth 
was sustained, at least in that portion of the country, for a 
considerable time. ^ 

But the floods of error which continued to issue forth from 
Rome augmented with each passing century, until they cov- 
ered all Christendom, and swept away almost every vestige of 
pure Christianity. Absurd and debasing superstitions pre- 
vailed among the ignorant, down-trodden masses; whilst a 
corrupt and insolent hierarchy, in combination with a haughty 
and tyrannical aristocracy, lorded it over them without con- 
trol. And from the end of the twelfth century to the begin- 
ning of the sixteenth, every thing that deserved the name of 
true Christianity was well-nigh extinct in the world. 

V. Light in Dark Places. 

But yet all was not lost. The lamp of truth continued to 
burn in the valleys of the Alps, though its flame often flickered 
in the socket, and seemed as if it must expire. Nor were the 
Waldenses quite alone. There were, in the mountains of 
Bohemia and Moravia, those who sympathized with them, 
and nobly contended for the same glorious Faith. ^ 

2 For an interesting history and able vindication of the Paulicians, and their doc- 
trines, the reader is referred to the admirable work of Mr. Faber, already men- 
tioned. 

3 There is indubitable evidence that there were many affiliated little societies of 
Waldenses, or of people who held the same Faith, dispersed throughout Italy, and 
maintaining intimate intercourse with their brethren in the valleys in Piedmont and 
Dauphiny, and through them, with brethren of the same communion in Bohemia 
and Poland, during the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. Abundant proof of this is to 
be found in Allix's Churches of Piedmont^ Leger's Histoire des Eglises Evangeliques ; 
the Annals of Rainald^ Matthew Paris's History, and other works which treat of 
this subject. They had such societies in the beginning of the 13th century, in Rome 
itself, a fact which led Gregory IX. to issue a famous bull against them, ordering 
their destruction, not only there, but wherever they might be found. Such societies 
existed both in that century and the following one, in all the chief places in the Val- 
ley of the Po, such as Corno, Milan, Cremona, and in the territories of Venice. 
They had houses in Genoa and Florence. They sent young men to the University 



ARNALDO DA BRESCIA. 19 

And when the time of the Reformation drew on, God raised 
up, in various countries, men whom he called to prepare the 
way for that wonderful movement, which was to shake all 
Christendom to its centre, and break down a portion of the 
walls of the Romish Babylon. * And as the Truth had been 
overcome by a succession of error^ so Error was now to be 
overcome by a succession of truth. Thus, as from the earliest 
dawn, ' the light shineth more and more unto the perfect day,' 
so did the Truth gain upon Error, extend her conquests, en- 
large her dominion, and reestablish her throne in the world, 
never again to be overthrown, till time shall be no more. 

Whilst England and Germany furnished champions for the 
Truth in the dark ages which preceded the glorious morning 
of the Reformation, Italy, too, furnished more than one man 
who had the courage to lift up his voice against the usurpa- 
tions of the clergy and the corruptions of the papacy. We 
will say a few words respecting two of these men, who not 
only defended the cause of truth and justice, but also suffered 
for that defence. 

VI. Arnaldo da Brescia^ 
In the former part of the twelfth century arose Ai^naldo da 
Brescia, a man of great learning and courage, and a disciple 
of the famous Abelard. He publicly maintained that the in- 
comes of the popes, bishops, parish clergy, and monastic estab- 

of Paris even, in order that they might be so trained as to be equal to their oppo- 
nents in dialectics. About the year 1370, a colony of Waldenses, or Vaudois, emi- 
grated from the valley of Pragela, in Piedmont, to Calabria, in the south part of 
Italy, where their descendants, joined from time to time by new accessions, main- 
tained the pure gospel down till the opening scenes of the Reformation, when they 
were cruelly extirpated by persecution. A history of this colony, and an account 
of its destruction, will be found in that portion of this book which treats of the Wal- 
denses. 

4 The reader will find an interesting account of the forerunners of the Reformation, 
in the excellent work of Mr. De Bonnechose, entitled, The Reformers before the 
Reformation. 



20 ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

lisliments, ought to be surrendered to the civil authorities of 
each state, and that nothing should be left to the ministers of 
religion, whatever their rank or position, but a spiritual 
authority, and a support drawn from the tithes and voluntary- 
contributions of the people. 

These doctrmes, so odious to the entire hierarchy of Rome, 
Arnaldo maintained mth much spirit at Brescia, his native 
city, where he had many adherents. But, in the year 1139, a 
council was held at Rome, (called the Second Lateran Coun- 
cil,) which was attended by the Bishop of Brescia, and several 
abbots of his diocese. At this council the doctrines of Arnal- 
do, who was absent and of course unheard, were condemned, 
and he was forbidden to preach them. Soon afterwards his 
partisans at Brescia were excommunicated and driven out of 
the city. 

Arnaldo took refuge in France, with his friend and master, 
Abelard, who chose him as his supporter in the famous 
Council of Sens, where he defended his opinions against the 
Bishop of Chartres and the celebrated Bernard, abbot of 
Clairvaux, Driven from France by the hatred of Bernard, 
Arnaldo retired to Zurich, in Switzerland, where he re- 
sided in security until 1145, zealously preaching doctrines 
which had been condemned at Rome. In that year he re- 
paired to Rome, and during the pontificates of Eugene III. 
and Anastasius IV. he did all that was in his power to revive 
the. spirit of the degenerate Romans, and to excite them to 
resist both the pope and the emperor of Germany, and 
vindicate their liberties. At his suggestion, the form of the 
ancient Roman commonwealth was restored, with its consuls, 
senate, equestrian order, and tribunes of the people. But 
it was all in vain. The Romans were no longer fit for free- 
dom ; but, like the Capadocians of old, when offered this boon, 
they preferred the chains which they had so long been accus- 
tomed to wear. 



ADRIAN IV. AND ARNALDO. 21 

VII. Adrian IV. and Arnaldo, 
Anastasius IV. was succeeded in St. Peter's chair, in 1154, 
by Adrian IV. ; a man of little learning, but much ambition, 
and great decision of character. Possessed of loftj ideas, and 
courage to carry his plans into effect, he advanced liis notions 
of papal prerogative and supremacy to a further point than 
any of his predecessors, save Gregory VII., the famous Hil- 
debrand. 

The original name of Adrian IV. was Nicholas Break- 
spere, an EngUshman, the only one of his nation that has 
ever had the honor of occupying the See of the Fisherman. 
Between such opinions as he entertained and those of Arnal- 
do there could be no congeniality ; and though his reign as 
king of the Eomans, and high-priest of the universal Church, 
was no longer than five years, it was long enough to effect 
the ruin of Arnaldo. Frederick Barbarossa, recently elected 
emperor of Germany, entered Italy with a large army, soon 
after Adrian's accession to the pontifical thi^one, intending to 
enforce his imperial authority over the republics of that 
country, who had for some tune been disposed to be unruly, 
and who at best rendered him only a nominal, and not very 
gracious, allegiance. He marched towards Rome, for the 
double purpose of settling his difficulties with its inhabitants 
and with the pope, and of being crowned by the latter. 
Affairs were in a complicated state in that city. The pope 
was at war with its inhabitants, whom he had in fact excom- 
municated in mass, and pronounced a ^ heavenly curse ' upon 
the ' eternal city,' and deprived them of divine service during 
the Easter holydays. He was at war, too, with the Norman 
sovereigns of Naples and Sicily. On the other hand, there 
were the old, unadjusted, and long-resisted claims of the Holy 
See upon the empire. But Adrian and Barbarossa soon 
found that the line in which their respective interests coin- 
cided was longer than that of. their differences ; and they 



22 ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

united against the Eomans and the Neapolitans. The imme- 
diate consequence of this coahtion was the dispersion to the 
winds of the new commonwealth of Eome, and the death of 
Arnaldo. The patriot and reformer, whose misfortune it was 
to be ' born out of due time/ was offered as a ' sacrifice of 
peace-offering ' by the emperor and the pope. He was cru- 
cified ; his body was burned, and his ashes were thrown into 
the Tiber, in order that his followers might have no memorial 
or relic of their leader. And though the ' Arnaldists/ as his 
partisans were for a long time called, were not annihilated by 
his death, yet they gradually sunk in the struggle with the 
overwhelming power of the pope and his cohorts of bishops, 
abbots, and monks, and at length disappeared as completely 
from the earth as did the ashes of theu^ leader. 

We know little of this Ai^naldo from any contemporaneous 
source, except the pages of Roman Catholic writers, who 
were not likely to do him justice. But, by their own show- 
ing, it is manifest that he contended for truth and justice. 
One of them, Tritemius, makes Arnaldo to preach to the 
pope and cardinals in the following terms: 'I call heaven 
and earth to witness that I have announced to you those 
things which the Lord has commanded. But ye despise both 
me and your Creator. Nor is it wonderful that ye are about 
to put me, a sinful man, to death, for preaching to you the 
truth, since if even Saint Peter were to arise from the dead 
this day, and were to reprove your many vices, ye would by 
no means spare him.' ^ Who can be at a loss, after reading 
this, either as to the probable doctrines and character of 
Arnaldo, or the reasons which induced the Roman hierarchy 

5 ' Ego testem invoco coelum et terram, quod annunciaveram vobis ea quae mihi 
Dominus prsDcepit : vos autem temnitis me et Creatorem vestrum. Nee mirum si 
me hominem peccatorem vobis veritatem annunciatem morti tradituri estis, cum 
etiam si S. Petrus hodie resurgeret et vitia vestra, quae nimis multiplicata sunt, 
reprehenderet, ei minime parceretis.' Tritemius ; as quoted in the North British 
Review, No. II., p. 468. 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 23 

to condemn those doctrines, and to put to death the man who 
held them. 

VIII. Girolamo Savonarola* 

More than tliree hundred years after the death of Arnaldo 
da Brescia, Girolamo Savonarola was raised up to resist at 
once the despotism of the civil governments, and the corruption 
of manners, which prevailed every where, both among the 
people and the clergy. Eespecting the character of this man 
it is no easy matter to arrive at the truth. By the Roman 
Catholic historians, he is, without exception, spoken of as a tur- 
bulent, ambitious fanatic, an enemy to ecclesiastical and ci\dl 
government, a deceiver of the people ; in a word, a vile im- 
postor. On the other hand, he has been held up as an Italian 
Luther, a glorious reformer and martyr. The truth we ap- 
prehend to be simply this. Savonarola was a man of singu- 
lar integrity, sanctity, and patriotism. He aimed at effecting 
a thorough reformation of the maimers of the people and of 
the clergy, rather than of the doctrines and ritual of the church. 
And although he considered the profligacy of the hierarchy 
of Rome to be the fomitain whence flowed the corruptions 
which pervaded the community, yet he seems not to have 
comprehended the necessity of a thorough reform of the erro- 
neous doctrines and practices of the Romish Church, in order 
to effect that reformation in manners which he so earnestly 
sought. It must be admitted, too, that the fervor of his zeal 
led him into extravagance, and that, in prosecuting his plans 
of reform, he sometimes yielded to the illusions of an over- 
heated imagmation, and suffered himself to be persuaded that 
he possessed supernatural gifts. This was probably one of 
the effects of his monastic life. But, admitting aU this, we 
think there is abmidant evidence that he was a good man, 
and sincerely desired to remedy the glaring evils of his times. 
Certainly there were few men of the fifteenth century, to be 



24 ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

compared with him, either as a Christian or a patriot. These 
things premised, we proceed to give some account of his life 
and actions. ^ 

Girolamo Savonarola was born at Ferrara, in the year 
1452. From his childhood he was an enthusiast in matters 
of religion, and resolved to devote himself to the monastic 
life. It was the intention of his parents that he should 
become a physician ; but his choice was to be a monk. Ac- 
cordingly he entered a convent of Dominicans at Bologna, 
without the consent, as some say, of his father, where he soon 
showed great fondness for study. In process of time he 
became distinguished as an academical lecturer ; but his first 
attempts in the pulpit were unpromising. His voice wasr 
feeble and harsh, and his manner was ungraceful and un- 
pleasant. But by great and persevering efforts he conquered 
all these defects, and in a few years became an admirable 
orator, as well as profound scholar. It was not long, how- 
ever, before he returned to the walls of his cloister, either from 
a desire to prosecute still further his studies, or a fear that 
popularity might injure his spirituality. Here he not only 
renewed his self-denial, and his penances, with more rigor 
than ever, but also pursued the study of metaphysics and 
theology with great zeal. And here, it has been said, the 
idea of his divine mission, for the first time, entered liis 
mind. 

In 1484, he delivered a series of discourses on the book of 
Revelation, at Brescia, in which he attacked the luxury and 
vices of the inhabitants in the most powerful manner, and 
announced to them that the walls of their city would one day 

6 Along with others who have done great injustice to the memory of Savonarola, 
must be ranked Mr. Roscoe, in his Life of Lorenzo de Medici. Sismondi, in his 
admirable History of the Italian Republics^ is far more accurate and impartial. 
John Francis Budoeus, in his youth, published a dissertation unfavorable to Savon- 
arola, of which he afterwards wrote, in the most candid spirit, a complete refuta- 
tion. 



GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA. 25 

be covered with blood, as a divine punishment for their sins. 
A remarkable fulfilment of this prediction, as his followers 
believed, took place two years after his death, when Brescia 
was taken and sacked by the French. 

In 1489, Savonarola took up his residence at Florence, in 
the convent of St. Mark, which belonged to his Order. Lo- 
renzo de Medici, the destroyer of his country's liberties, ad- 
miring his talents and dreading his popularity, endeavored to 
gain him to his interest. But Savonarola resisted all his 
advances, and would not even deign to visit the man whom 
he regarded as an usurper. But it would seem that Lorenzo 
entertained a great respect for his piety as well as his talents, 
for, when on his dying bed, he sent for him, with the desire 
of obtaining absolution at his hands. The stern and faithful 
monk this time obeyed the summons, and repaired to the 
ducal palace. To the dying man he propounded three very 
important questions, namely : Whether he had an entire con- 
fidence in the mercy of God ? Whether he was willing to 
make restitution of all the goods which he had unlawfully 
taken from any one? And whether he was prepared to 
restore to the Florentines their republic, which he had over- 
thrown ? To the first two, Lorenzo returned an answer in 
the affirmative ; but as to the third he was silent ! Where- 
upon Savonarola left him without administering the rite of 
absolution. 

During the government of Pietro, the haughty and luxuri- 
ous successor of Lorenzo, the influence of Savonarola in- 
creased, and his enthusiasm kept pace with his popularity. 
His fervid eloquence drew admiring thousands to every 
church in which he preached. With all the force of his vivid 
Italian imagination, he painted the luxury and immorality 
which prevailed among all classes of the citizens, the disor- 
ders of the church, the corruptions of the prelates, the troubles 
3 



26 ITALY BEFOEE THE REI^ORMATION. 

of tlie state, and the tyranny of its rulers ; and announced the 
coming judgments of God. Nor was his preaching in vain. 
An extraordinary reformation of manners took place. Lux- 
ury was repressed, and the general immorality was greatly 
diminished. The expulsion of the Medici took place, and 
Savonarola had the pleasure of seeing a popular government 
arise on the ruins of the despotism of that ambitious house. 
His influence was all in favor of the reestablishment of the 
republic. Still, he bent his greatest efforts to that moral 
reform which he deemed to be as absolutely necessary to the 
perpetuity of the new government as to individual happiness 
and salvation. 

IX. Savonarola and Alexander VL 

But things were rapidly coming to a crisis. Savonarola 
had many enemies in Florence, among the Franciscans and 
Augustinians, as well as among the adherents of the Medici. 
These did all they could to overthrow his influence. But a 
blow was preparing for his devoted head, in another and 
higher quarter. Savonarola had gone so far as to assert that 
reform ought to commence with the head of the church, and 
in his invectives he had not spared the then reigning pontiff, 
the infamous Borgia, Alexander YI. He did not hesitate to 
hold up to scorn crimes which disgraced humanity, and 
grieved all serious people. 

The consequence was what it required no gift of prophecy 
to foresee ; the Pope hurled a bull of excommunication at 
him, and threatened the Florentine republic with an interdict, 
if it allowed him to preach. At the request of the senate, he 
desisted for a time ; but soon he came forth from his cloister, 
and in his turn denomiced the Pope as an usurper, declared 
the Church had no human head, and pronounced Alexander 
to be no Christian at all, and therefore not worthy to be a 
bishop ! The irritated pontiff instantly despatched a Fran- 



SAVONAROLA AND ALEXANDER VI. 27 

ciscan, Francesco de Pouille, to Florence, to denounce Savon- 
arola as a heresiarch, and to threaten the republic with an 
immediate interdiction, and the confiscation of the property 
of its merchants in foreign parts, unless the senate should 
prevent him from preaching any more. The Florentines 
became alarmed, and, despairing of the help of France, 
yielded to the command of the Nuncio. 

Pouille next challenged Savonarola to submit the truth of 
his doctrines to the test of fire. He himself offered to walk 
through the flames with his adversary. Savonarola declined 
the dreadful contest; but Bonvicini, one of his disciples, 
accepted the challenge. Pouille, in turn, refused to go 
through the proposed ordeal with any one but the heresiarch 
himself, as he called Savonarola. But a Florentine Francis- 
can, of the name of Rondinelli, offered to be his substitute. 
The whole city, as well as the government, entered earnestly 
into the affair. The time and place were appointed. A great 
multitude assembled. But a protracted dispute took place 
on the ground. The Franciscans required that the Domini- 
can, Bonvicini, should change his dress, fearing he might be 
an enchanter. They next insisted that he should not carry 
the host with him, considering it impious to expose the body 
of Christ to the risk of being consumed in the flames. But 
on this point Savonarola was inflexible. In the mean while, 
the day was passing away, and a heavy shower came on, 
which extinguished the kindled fire, and dispersed the disap- 
pointed crowd. 

The fickle people were dissatisfied when they heard the re^ 
port that Savonarola had refused the trial, and without waiting, 
or caring, to know the true cause, they turned against him. 
From that moment his influence was gone with the masses. 
The next day he preached with great fervor his last sermon, 
and at its close he bade farewell to his friends. That night, 
during a riot, in which many of his partisans, and friends of 



28 ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

the new order of things were killed, he was arrested in the 
convent, with two other monks, and dragged to prison. A 
revolution took place, the republic was overthrown, and the 
Medici were restored. Intelligence of these events was 
speedily transmitted to Rome. Alexander demanded that 
Savonarola and his companions should be brought to Eome 
and tried ; but the government of Florence refused to send 
them. Two commissaries were despatched from Rome to 
try them. After having submitted to torture, they were 
condemned to undergo death by fire. On the 23d of May, 
1498, a pile of fagots was erected on the very spot where 
the voluntary trial by fire was to have taken place a few 
weeks before, and the three monks, after having been de- 
graded, were bound to the stake. When the presiding Bishop 
declared them separated from the Church, Savonarola ex- 
claimed, ' from the militant,' intimating that he believed that 
they were about to enter the Church triumphant. The fire 
was immediately applied, and soon their bodies were reduced 
to ashes, which, by order of the magistrates, were gathered 
up and thrown into the Arno. Thus ended the life of Savon- 
arola, one of the many who have suffered as martyrs, for 
resisting the corruptions and the tyranny of Rome. 

X. Influence of the Revival of Learning, 

The ^ Revival of Letters,' which commenced almost with 
the dawn of the fourteenth century, shed its genial influences 
upon Italy, as well as upon Germany, and the other portions 
of western Europe. One of its most immediate and palpable 
effects was the introduction of a purer style in the writing of 
Latin, — a reformation which was greatly needed, — for that 
noble language had become greatly corrupted and debased. 
In consequence of this happy improvement, the BuUarium^ 
the collection of the bulls or letters of the popes, imderwent 
numerous necessary corrections, and the standard of scholar- 



INFLUENCE OF THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING. 29 

ship was raised. Barlaam, a monk in Calabria, and his dis- 
ciple, Leontius Pilatus, were among the first teachers of 
Greek in Italy, at the commencement of the revival of learn- 
ing. The former was the instructor of Petrarch, the latter 
of Boccaccio, in that noble language. 

This incipient movement in favor of letters, was greatly 
strengthened by the immigration into Italy of many learned 
Greeks, upon the downfall of the Eastern Empire, and the 
capture of Constantinople by the Turks, in the year 1453. 
These men brought with them such of their literary treasures 
as they were able to save from the pillage of their native 
cities by the Mohammedan barbarians. They had been pre- 
ceded by the learned ambassadors whom the last of the long 
line of feeble Greek emperors had sent to Rome, to implore 
help against the deadly enemies of Christianity, in all its 
forms and sects. 

About the same time the art of printing was invented, and 
by rapidly increasing the number of copies of valuable books, 
and diminishing their price, contributed much to the promo- 
tion of learning. Ancient literature began now to be culti- 
vated with great enthusiasm. The treasures of science and 
of knowledge, which had long remained locked up in the 
learned languages were brought forth, either in translations, 
or in the languages in which they were composed. A great 
impulse was given to the human mind. Light was poured 
on many subjects respecting which great ignorance had long 
prevailed. Men were excited to inquire, to examine, to 
judge on every subject. Old errors began to be investigated, 
then doubted, then rejected. Philosophy, politics, and 
science, were submitted to scrutiny. Even religion did not 
escape. When compared with the early fathers, and still 
more with the Sacred Scriptures, which now, after a thousand 
years of entombment, began to be published and read in their 
3* 



30 ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

original tongues, Christianity was found to have undergone 
very strange transmutations. 

XI, Dante. 

And although it is true that a taste for literature does not 
insure a taste for religion, and although many of the patrons 
of learning in Italy,'' such as Sixtus IV., Alexander YI., Julius 
II., Lorenzo de Medici, and Leo X., were any thing else 
than religious men, yet it is certain that the progress of 
learning had a tendency favorable, on the whole, to the cause 
of true Christianity. Not only did it pour a flood of light, — 
reflected from the Scriptures, recovered from the dark clois- 
ters of monks, and from the pages of the early Christian 
authors, — but it also excited writers, both in poetry and 
prose, to attack the flagrant corruptions of Christianity which 
they saw in the Romish Church. No Protestant has ever 
said harder thmgs against the ' mother of harlots,' than some 
of the Italian authors. Dante's Divina Comedia contains 
very many passages full of the most cutting satire upon the 
conduct of the Roman hierarchy, — popes, cardinals, bishops, 
priests, and monks. Many of his views respecting the gospel, 
the divine and supreme authority of the Scriptures in matters 
of faith and practice, were such as every true Protestant 
holds. This we could easily show by citations, if it were 
necessary. Let one or two passages suffice. 

He does not hesitate to compare modern Rome to the idol- 

7 Bembo and Sadoleti were two of the most learned men of their day. And yet 
Bembo signed the infamous bull authorizing and vindicating the sale of indul- 
gences ; and Sadoleti disgraced his pen by writing and signing the bull which con- 
demned Luther as a heretic ; ordaining that, if he continued obstinate, he should be 
seized and sent to Rome ; and authorizing the sentence of excommunication and 
interdict to be pronounced against all powers, civil or ecclesiastical, (the Emperor 
excepted,) secular or regular, dukes, marquises, universities, and communities, by 
v/hom he miglit be received or harbored. Roscoe's Leo X., Vol. III., App. Nos. cli. 
and clix. 



PETRARCH AND OTHERS. 31 

atrous Babylon of the Apocalypse, and in one place uses the 
following language : 

* Of shepherds hke to you, th' Evangehst 
Was ware, when her, who sits upon the waves, 
With kings in filthy whoredom he heheld ; 
She who with seven heads towered at her birth. 
And from ten horns her proof of glory drew, 
Long as her spouse in vhtue took dehght. 
Of gold and silver ye have made your God, 
Diif ling wherein from the idolater. 
But that he worships one, a hundred ye. 
Ah ! Constantine, to how much ill gave bhth, 
Not thy conversion, but that plenteous dower 
Which the first wealthy father gained from thee 1 ' ^ 

He peopled his Hell^ as well as his Purgatory , with Romish 
clergy, from popes down to mendicant friars. And he even 
seems sometimes to indulge in a prophetic strain in regard to 
the downfall of the papacy, with all its corruptions. 

' Yet it may chance, ere long, the Vatican, 
And other most selected parts of Eome, 
That were the grave of Peter's soldiery, 
Shall be deUvered from th' adult'rous bond.' ^ 

In his treatise on Monarchy, he is even more severe on the 
abuses of the church, than in his poems. He would deprive 
the popes of temporal authority, and attacks tradition, which 
has justly been called the main pillar of the Roman Catholic 
Church. For doing this, his Monarchia found a place in the 
Index of Forbidden Books, in the year 1559, where it is 
wonderful that the Divina Comedia is not to be found also. 

XII. Petrarch and Others. 

Nor was Petrarch less severe upon Rome and its hierar- 
chy than Dante. In his Latin eclogues and Italian sonnets, 

8 Inf. c. xix. conf. Purg. c. xxxii., Carey's Translation. 

9 Parad. c. ix., Carey^s Translation. 



32 ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

there are many strokes of satire, sometimes concealed, some- 
times open. The Papal See is characterized as 'impious 
Babylon ; avaricious Babylon ; the school of error ; the tem- 
ple of heresy ; the forge of fraud ; the hell of the living.' ^^ 
The following stanzas will give a good illustration of the 
freedom and pungency with which he occasionally wrote 
respecting the Roman See. 

' The fire of wrathful heaven alight, 
And all thy harlot tresses smite. 

Base city ! thou, from humble fare, 
Thy acorns and thy water, rose 
, To greatness, rich with others' woes. 
Rejoicing in the ruin thou didst bear. 

Foul nest of treason ! Is there aught 
Wherewith the spacious world is fraught 

Of bad or yile — 'tis hatch'd in thee ; 
Who revellest in thy costly meats. 
Thy precious wines, and curious seats, 

And all the pride of luxury. 

The while mthin thy secret halls. 
Old men in seemly festiyais 

With buxom girls in dance are going ; 
And in the midst old Beelzebub 
Eyes, thi'ough his glass, the motley club. 

The fire with sturdy bellows blowing. 

In foimer days thou wast not laid 
On down, nor under cooling shade ; 

Thou naked to the winds wast given, 
And tln'ough the sharp and thoniy road 
Thy feet without the sandals trod ; 

But now thy life is such it swells to Heaven.' ^^ 

10 Petrarchi Opera^ torn. iii. p. 149. 

11 Le Rime del Petrarcha, edit. Tuod Castelvetro, torn. i. p. 325. — quoted by Dr. 
McCrie, in his Hist, of the Reformation in Italy, p. 27. 



PETRARCH AND OTHERS. 33 

But if Petrarch is severe upon the popes, the clergy, and 
the vices of Rome, in his poems, he is far more so in his con- 
fidential letters, wliich, we may remark in passing, he left 
carefully collected and arranged for publication. In his day, 
Avignon, in France, was the seat of the papacy. Thither 
intestine troubles and factions compelled the legitimate line 
of' popes to emigrate, and there to abide during seventy 
years, from 1307 to 1377. It was a species of ^carrying 
away into Babylon,' or rather of removal from one Babylon 
to another! There, lived and reigned Clement V., John 
XXII. (of infamous memory), Benedict XI., Clement YI., 
Innocent VI., Urban V., and Gregory XI. And whatever 
Avignon had been, before it became the Papal See, it is cer- 
tain that long before seventy years passed away, 'Baby- 
lon on the Rhone ' very greatly resembled her sister on the 
Tiber. ' I am at present,' says Petrarch in a letter addressed 
to a particular friend, ' in the western Babylon, than which 
the sun never beheld any thing more hideous ; and beside the 
fierce Rhone, where the successors of the poor fishermen now 
live as kmgs. Here the credulous crowd of Christians are 
caught, in the name of Jesus, but by the arts of Belial ; and, 
being stripped of their scales, are fried to fill the belly of 
gluttons. Go to India, or wherever you choose ; but avoid 
Babylon, if you do not wish to go down alive to hell. What- 
ever you may have heard or read of, as to perfidy and fraud, 
pride, incontinence, and unbridled lust, impiety, and wicked- 
ness of every kind, you mil fimd here collected and heaped 
together. Rejoice, and glory in this, Babylon, situated on 
the Rhone, that thou art the enemy of the good, the friend of 
the bad, the asylum of wild beasts, the whore that hast com- 
mitted fornication with the kings of the earth ! Thou art she 
whom the inspired evangelist saw in the spirit; yes, thee, 
and none but thee, he saw ' sitting upon many waters.' See 
thy dress, 'a woman clothed in purple and scarlet.' Dost 



34 ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

thou know thyself, Babylon ? Certainly what follows agrees 
to thee and none else — ' mother of fornications and abomina- 
tions of the earth.' But hear the rest — ' I saw/ says the 
evangelist, ' a woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and 
the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.' Point out another to 
whom this is applicable but thee.'^ Let it be remembered 
that Petrarch was a Roman Catholic priest^ as well as a poet 
and diplomatist, and intimately iicquainted with several of the 
popes who reigned at Avignon.- INb" one, therefore, could 
have had a better opportunity for knowing the luxury, the 
heresies, and the vices which reigned in that Church in his 
day. 

The writings of Boccaccio, Poggio Bracciolini, Ariosto, 
Berni, Baptista, and very many other Italian authors, from 
the revival of learning to the Reformation, abound in severe 
ridicule and invective, aimed especially at the vices of the 
clergy and monks. ^^ Laurentius Yalla, ' who,' it is affirmed 
by Erasmus, -^^ ^rescued literature from the grave, and re- 
stored to Italy the splendor of her ancient eloquence,' wrote 
with great ability against the papal claims and abuses. He 
lived in the beginning of the fifteenth century. 

XIII. Need of Reformation felt hy some in the Church. 

In the process of time, the state of things in the Roman 
hierarchy became worse and worse. The popes became 
merely secular princes in their spirit and character ; and the 
papal court obtained even the degrading reputation of being 

n ErnstolfE Familiares, ep. 4, 12, 15, 16, quoted in Dr. McCrie's Hist, of the Refor- 
mation in Italy. 

13 Ever since the suppression of the Reformation in Italy, it has been far more 
difficult to publish any thing in that country, against the errors of Rome, and the 
conduct of the clergy, than before that epoch. Still, something has from time to 
time been done, under one form or another. Of this, Nicolini's Arnaldo da Brescia 
is a remarkable proof 

14 Erasmi Epistoles, lib. vii. ep. 3. 



REFORMATION A DIFFICULT AVORK. 35 

the most faithless and unmoral of all courts in the whole civ- 
ilized world! Every thing sacred was prostituted to base 
avarice. Every thing was sold for money — ecclesiastical 
offices and appointment^, absolutions, indulgences, canoniza- 
tions, etc. etc. Cabals, intrigue, and bribery, reigned at 
Eome. At length the evil became almost insupportable. 
Even from among the clergy themselves, some were raised 
up to preach the necessity of reformation in the Church. 
This demand was loudly made in the fifteenth century, and 
the beoinninoc of the sixteenth. It manifested itself in the 
Councils of Constance, of Pisa, and of the Lateran. It was 
pressed upon the attention of the pontiffs, by men who felt 
the necessity of a reformation. But they received, in 1516, 
a bull enjoining upon them to cease to treat in their sermons, 
of such subjects, and no more to speak of the coming of Anti- 
christ. In this way the popes endeavored to silence the 
clamors for reform from so dangerous a quarter. And this 
state of things continued until a cry was raised in Germany, 
and the sounds Antichrist and Babylon, as designating Eome, 
filled all Christendom, and for awhile seemed to strike the 
papal court dumb. 

XIV. Reformation a Difficult Worh 

But however corrupt the state of the Church had become, 
and however much this was felt by some men in Italy, the 
great majority of the common people were too indifferent to 
religion, to care about any thing beyond the imposing forms 
and ceremonies to which they had so long been accustomed. 
Too ignorant and too sensual to appreciate a spiritual reli- 
gion, the idea of a reformation in the Church, and of a return 
to primitive Christianity, never entered their minds. 

And as to the nobles and others of a rank, in point of intel- 
ligence and position in society, superior to the masses, too 
many of them shared in the profuse expenditure, through a, 



36 ITALY BEFORE THE REFORMATION. 

thousand different channels, of the enormous sums of money, 
which, under one pretence or another, flowed into the treas- 
ury of St. Peter, to allow suffering humanity to expect any 
thing, in the way of salutary change, from that quarter. 
They loved the oppressors of mankind, for the simple reason 
that they permitted them to share the spoils. "Wliat marvel, 
then, if, whilst some men in Italy mourned over the degen- 
eracy of the times, and sighed for a reformation, that blessed 
movement, when it did commence, should encounter the op- 
position which it did in that country ? 



CHAPTER n. 

ENTRANCE OF THE REFORMATION INTO ITALY. 

We have arrived at the epoch when the Reformation 
began to agitate the Christian world. In the year 1517, 
Luther published his Theses, or propositions, in Wittem- 
berg, and soon all Germany was aroused by the din of the 
conflict which from that date was fairly commenced. Nor 
was it long until the truth, from Luther's pen, reached the 
South of Germany, transcended the Alps, and came down 
upon the plains of Italy. And, even in that land where the 
papacy had its strong-hold, there were soon found hearts that 
responded favorably to its appeals. 

I. Preparation for the Reformation^ — Revival of Letters. 

Who can read the history of the Reformation without 
being struck with the wonderful manner in which God 
ordained every thing in relation to it ? Had Luther arisen a 
century or two before he did, he would have found none of 
that preparation which the revival of letters effected for 
him and his doctrines. Thick darkness then rested upon the 
people of Western Europe ; the learned languages were 
almost wholly neglected. Greek literature was not studied ; 
scarcely a man being found in all Italy, France, and Ger- 
many, who understood the characters in which it was writ- 
ten. During several centuries, only now and then an iso- 
lated individual could be found in aU Italy that knew even 
a smattering of Hebrew. To unlearned eyes its charac- 
ters appeared strange, if not cabalistic. Even the Latin, 
4 



38 ENTRANCE OF THE REFORMATION. 

thougli read and spoken by all those who may be considered 
scholars during that period, was but a barbarous corruption 
of the noble language in which Virgil and Cicero composed 
their immortal works. 

II. John Reuclilin, 

But when Luther appeared on the stage, the revival of 
letters had prepared many of the first minds of that age for 
the reception of his glorious doctrines. The study of Latin, 
and even of Greek, was prosecuted with much zeal, not only 
in Italy but also in Germany. The celebrated John Reuch- 
lin, of Suabia, had already done much to promote the 
knowledge of both Greek and Hebrew in Germany, before 
Luther commenced his heaven-commissioned work. That 
celebrated scholar was the son of a worthy burgher, of Pforz- 
heim, in the south part of Germany. Whilst yet a youth, he 
was sent by the Margrave of Baden, with his son, to the 
university of Paris, at that epoch by far the most celebrated 
in Western Europe^ There he supported himself, whilst 
prosecuting his studies, by copying Homer and other Greek 
authors for the students who were in better circumstances. 
It was at Paris that he studied Greek under the Spartan 
Hermonymos, and Hebrew under John Weissel, surnamed 
the light of the world. From the latter he learned the first 
elements of those doctrines which were afterwards better 
known under the designation of Protestant. Upon his return 
to Germany, he gave lectures on Greek literature in Basle, 
at the early age of twenty ; was soon afterwards made a pro- 
fessor in the new university of Tubingen in Suabia; and 
thence, ten years later, he was driven by his enemies to 
Heidelberg. His repeated visits to Rome greatly augmented 
his knowledge and increased his renown. He was now the 
first scholar of his age, and the restorer of the study of Greek 
and Hebrew to Germany. 



ERASMUS. 39 

III. Erasmus* 

Another coadjutor in the cause of learning was the cele- 
brated Erasmus, a native of Rotterdam, but educated chiefly 
at Paris. He became One of the greatest scholars of his 
times, and was courted by Charles V. of Germany, Heniy 
Vni. of England, and Francis I. of France. From 1509 to 
1516, he taught in Oxford. In 1516 he went to Basle, 
where he spent most of his remaining years. He never was 
and never could be a reformer ; but he prepared the way for 
others. He did much to revive and diffuse a knowledge of 
Latin and Greek, of which he was a distinguished master. 
He knew the truth, but had not the courage to avow it. But 
he did vast service to the Reformation by the exposure of 
the superstitions of the Roman Catholic Church, and of the 
ignorance of the monks and priests. 

Many other men contributed about this time, in different 
parts of western Europe, to the revival of letters, some of 
them natives ; others, distinguished Greeks from the East. 
Nor were there wanting learned Jews who gave instruction 
in the Hebrew language and literature, especially in Italy, to 
those who were willing to be their disciples. The labors of 
all such had a certain though indirect tendency to prepare 
the way for the Reformation. 

The art of printing, too, had been sufficiently long known 
and employed, to have accomplished much in facilitating the 
progress of the reformers. Knowledge had been considera- 
bly diffused, and many of the strongest minds had by this 
means been aroused to think on subjects of science, nor did 
rehgion long escape their investigation. 

In no part of Western Europe was the progress of the 
revival of letters more signal than in Germany. That coun- 
try had, until this period, been considered by the Italians, as 
another Boeotia. Its blue-eyed, athletic sons were supposed 
to be scarcely less rude than in the days of Caesar and Taci- 



40 ENTRANCE OF THE REFORMATION. 

tus. But events of the most astounding nature were about 
to occur, wliich would be calculated to make the Italians 
stare with amazement at the rapid extension of learning 
north of the Alps. A mighty intellectual and moral conflict 
was about to take place, and Germany was the arena on 
which it was to be fought. But the great drama was pre- 
ceded by two or three movements of minor importance. Of 
these, we must say a few words ; for they had no inconsider- 
able influence in attracting the eyes of the Italians towards 
Germany, and thus of preparing them for greater things. 

ly. Reuchliv!^ Quarrel with the Dominicans. 

In one of the first years of the 16th century, a baptized 
Jew, of Cologne, named Pfefferkorn, an intimate friend of 
the Dominican inquisitor Hochstraten, aided by the monks 
of his Order, succeeded in persuading the Emperor Maximil- 
ian to give an order that all the Jewish books (the Bible 
excepted) should be burned. The reason alleged was, that 
they were filled with blasphemies against Jesus Christ. This 
was opposed by Keuchlin and other scholars, as a gross in- 
justice. The emperor requested Reuchlin to examine the 
books. The learned doctor did so, and indicated those that 
came within the category of such books as the imperial order 
contemplated. These met their fate ; but such as contained 
no attacks upon Christianity were saved. This enraged the 
Dominicans, who commenced a fierce war upon Reuchlin. 
They ventured to charge him with heresy, and quoted pas- 
sages from his writings to prove it. But the able professor 
confounded them, in 1513, in his "Defence against his De- 
tractors in Cologne." Hochstraten assembled a tribunal at 
Mayence against E-euchlin, and had his writings condemned 
to the flames. Eeuchlin appealed to Pope Leo X. Leo, 
who had no love for the monks, referred the matter to the 
Bishop of Spires, who declared Reuchlin innocent, and con- 



LETTERS OF SOME OBSCURE MEN. 41 

dernned the monks to pay the cost of the investigation. This 
affair made a great noise in Italy, where men of learning, 
as well as in Germany, almost universally took part with 
Reuchlin. 

V. The Letters of some Obscure Men. 

Whilst the controversy between Reuchlin and the Domin- 
icans was yet pending, the monks received a blow from 
another quarter. Ulrich von Hiitten^^ took part strongly 
with the learned doctor, for he was the mortal enemy of the 
monks. To him has been attributed the famous satire which 
appeared in 1516, entitled Epistolce Ohscurorum Virorum.^^ 
But it appears that a friend of his, whom he had known at 
the University, Crotus Eobianus,- and other Germans were 
the real authors of this production, although it is probable 
that HUtten had no small part in the matter. 

In this work, Reuchlin's adversaries, the monks, — the 
pretended authors of these letters, — are made to discourse 
of the current affairs of the day, and especially of theological 
matters, after their own fashion, and in their own barbarous 
Latin. They address the silliest and most unmeaning ques- 
tions to Eratius, their correspondent at Cologne. They 

15 This Ulrich von HUtten was no common man. He was surnamed the Demos- 
thenes of Germany, on account of his philippics against popery. He was of a 
noble family of Franconia, and was no less distinguished by his writings than by 
his sword. He visited Italy in early life, and was present at the siege of Padua. 
Nor were the abominations of Rome unknown to him. Upon his return to Ger- 
many, he composed a work against Rome, in which he paints in the strongest 
terms, the vices of that court, and shows the necessity of putting an end by force, 
to her tyranny. " There are," says a traveller, Vadiseus, who figures in that 
work, " three things one usually brings away with him from Rome : a bad con- 
science, an impaired stomach, and an empty purse. There are three things which 
Rome does not believe : the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the dead, 
and hell. There are three things of which Rome makes traffic : the grace of 
Christ, ecclesiactical dignities, and women." History of the Reformation in the Six- 
teenth Century, by Merle d'Aubigne. Vol. I., Chap. XI. 

16 ItCtters of some Obscure Men. 

4* 



42 ENTRANCE OF THE REFORMATION. 

expose, in this way, their own gross ignorance, unbelief, 
superstition, pride, fanatical zeal, and vulgar and grovelling 
spirit. -Among other things, they reveal the profligacy and 
excesses of the chiefs of their party, and relate several scan- 
dalous anecdotes of Hochstraten and PfeiFerkorn. The mix- 
ture of hypocrisy and silliness in these Letters renders them 
exceedingly comic ; and yet so natural are they, that even 
the Dominicans and Franciscans in England received them 
as a genuine and faithful exhibition of the principles and 
conduct of their Order. 

Great was the indignation, however, of the monks in 
Germany, when the work fell into their hands ; and great was 
the delight of their enemies. The affair was soon carried to 
the pope. But Leo refused to issue a bull against these 
Lettei's, and the monks had to digest them as best they 
could. This controversy, if such it may be called, had some 
influence in Italy m preparing the way for more important 
things. 

VL The Writings of the Reformers penetrate into Italy, 

Luther published his Theses on the subject of Indul- 
gences, in 1517; and within less than two years his writ- 
ings had found their way into Italy, and were favorably 
received by the learned. Frobenius, a celebrated publisher 
at Basle, wrote to him, to say that he had received certain 
treatises of his from Salmonius, a bookseller at Leipsic, 
which he printed, and of which he had sent six hundred 
copies into France and Spain, where, he was assured by his 
friends, they were read and approved. ^'^ He furthermore 
stated that Calvus, a learned bookseller of Pavia, had car- 
ried a great part of the edition into Italy. Individuals in 
other parts of that country wrote to their friends in Ger- 

17 He in fact states that these writings were read and approved by the professors 
intlie Sorbonne, at Paris. 



\ \ 



WRITINGS OF THE REFORMERS IN ITALY. 43 

many, stating tliat tlie ^vritings of Luther were read with 
deep interest, even in Home itself. 

A German nobleman, of the name of Schenk, who was 
residing at Venice as a Inonk, wrote to Spalatin, the chap- 
lain of the Elector of Saxony, in the year 1520, that he had 
read the writings of Luther, and that the copies which had 
been carried to that city by the booksellers had found a 
rapid sale, and were read with great avidity. This Schenk 
had received a commission from the Elector of Saxony, to 
purchase relics in Italy for his new university at Wittemberg ; 
the commission was now revoked, and the relics sent back, 
the Elector having learned from Luther and his writings, the 
vanity of these things. The person whom Schenk employed 
to execute this commission was a young man of the name of 
Yergerio, who afterwards became Bishop of Capo dTstria, 
and legate of the pope to the German princes ; but who, in 
the end, embraced the doctrines of the Reformation, and be- 
came eminently instrumental in their diffusion in Italy. 

Not only did the writings of Luther penetrate into Italy — 
those of Melancthon, Zuingle, and Bucer were also carried 
thither and widely circulated, notwithstanding all the bulls 
issued from the Vatican against them. They were even read 
in the pope's own palace, and by some of the cardinals. 
Some of them were translated into Italian, and the titles so 
modified that their authors were at first not recognized. 
This was the case with Melancthon's Common Places ; which 
were printed at Venice, with this title : Da Messer Ippojilo 
di Terra Negra, ^^ Luther's Preface to his Commentary on 
the Epistle to the Romans, and his Treatise on Justification, 
were translated and circulated for awhile as the works of 
Cardinal Fregoso. The works of Zuingle were circulated 

18 It is well known that Melancthon's original name was Schwartzerd^ which his 
kinsman, Reuchlin, turned into Mela7icthon, which signifies in Greek, as Schwart- 
zerd does in German, and Terra Negra in Italian, black earth. 



44 ENTRANCE OP THE REFORMATION. 

under the name of Corieius Cogelius. Bucer's Commentary 
on the Psalms was sold in Italy and France as the work of 
Aretius FeliiiuSj his own name and surname translated, the 
former in Greek, and the latter in Latin. 

There is reason to believe that many persons in Italy, 
especially among the learned, not only discovered more 
clearly than ever the errors of Eome, through the perusal of 
the writings of the Reformers, but also learned from them the 
Truth " as it is in Jesus." This is manifest from the spirit 
of the letters of Egidio di Porta, an Augustinian monk, living 
on Lake Como, addressed to Zuingle, and those of Baltasare 
Fontana, a Carmelite monk of Locarno, addressed to the 
Evangelical churches in Switzerland, as well as many 
others. 

VII. Study of the Scriptures. 

Through the revival of letters in Italy, greater attention 
began to be directed to sacred literature. This no doubt 
contributed not a little to the spread of the Reformed doc- 
trines in that country. Even in the 15th century, the study 
of the Hebrew had made much progress ; and the publication 
of the Old Testament in that language shows that the minds 
of scholars were beginning to be interested in the perusal of 
the sacred volume. The Psalter in Hebrew was printed at 
Soncino, by a Jewish bookselling house, in the year 1477, 
and the whole Bible in 1488. One of the most distinguished 
scholars that the world ever saw, was Giovanni Pico, who 
died in 1494, in the thirty-second year of his age. Before 
he was twenty-five, he had mastered twenty-two languages. 
There are many things in his works which show that his 
mind was imbued with true piety, and that he had a clearer 
knowledge of the gospel than most men of his age. Indeed, 
many of his sentiments were so evangelical that it is wonder-*- 
ful that he was not condemned as a heretic — a fate which 
he, in fact, narrowly escaped. 



STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 45 

In the latter part of the fifteenth century, and the begin- 
ning of the sixteenth, we find a very laudable zeal manifested 
by several persons in Italy, in the pursuit of oriental lan- 
guages and oriental litei-ature. For this purpose they pub- 
lished quite a number of grammars, dictionaries, and other 
helps for the use of those who desired to engage in such 
studies. Not only the Hebrew, but the Syriac, the Arabic, 
the Chaldaic, and the Ethiopic, also, enUsted the application 
of scholars. The Scriptures, or portions of them, in all 
these languages were published. The Septuagint was issued 
at Venice, by the Aldine^^ press, in 1518. Erasmus had his 
Greek Testament, accompanied with a Latin translation, 
printed at Basle, in 1516. Both these works were much 
circulated in Italy, and did much to diffuse among the learned 
a knowledge of the Oracles of God. In the year 1527, 
Sante Pagnini, of Lucca, published his Latin translation of 
the whole Scriptures, which was received with great eager- 
ness by the well educated, on account of the vast reputation 
of the author, who had bestowed twenty-five years upon the 
work. 

Not only were the Scriptures printed in the original lan- 
guages and early versions, but valuable commentaries on 
them appeared, the productions of gifted minds, which after- 
wards were very powerful weapons in the hands of those 
who labored to diffuse the Reformed opinions in Italy. 
These commentaries, written by men of high standing in the 
Roman Catholic Church, and sanctioned by its highest 
authorities, were continually appealed to in supporting those 



19 The Aldine press, so famous for the excellent editions of the Latin, Italian, and 
Greek classic authors, which issued from it, was, as is well known to scholars , 
established in Venice, by Aldo Manuzio, a distinguished Italian scholar and printer, 
about the year 1490. This printing establishment was carried on for more than a 
century, by Aldo Manuzio the elder, his son Paolo, and his grandson Aldo. Nine 
hundred and eight different editions issued from it. No other establishment of the 
kind has ever been so celebrated. 



46 ENTRANCE OF THE REFORMATION. 

doctrines by the authority of the Word of God, rightly inter- 
preted. ^ 

It was by means of these studies that the minds of the 
learned in'- Italy were prepared for taking a part in the ques- 
tion of the Eeformation. It is owing to this fact, that when 
the Reformed doctrines spread in that country, there were 
among those who embraced them, so many literary men, — 
from those who stood high in the ranks of the hierarchy of 
Rome, down to the humblest order of monks, who lived in 
secluded cloisters. 

VIII. Translation of the Scriptures into Italian. 

But the knowledge of the Scriptures in the original and 
kindred languages, though it might have been eminently 
useful to the learned, could never avail for the benefit of the 
people. It was necessary that the Word of God should be 
translated, explained, and circulated in the vulgar tongue. 
And it is an interesting fact, that the translation of the Sacred 
Writings into the Italian language kept pace with the gradual 
revival of letters in that country. As early even as the 
middle of the thirteenth century, it has been asserted-— 
though it would seem on insufficient authority — that Jacopo 
da Voragine, Bishop of Genoa, translated the Bible into the 
vernacular language of Italy. Fragments of such transla- 
tions were certainly published in the fourteenth century. 
And as early as the year 1471, a version of the Scriptures, 
by Nicolo Malermi, or Malerbi, was printed at Yenice, and 
is said to have gone through nine editions in that century, 
and twelve in the succeeding. But a far better translation 
appeared in the sixteenth century, that of Antonio Brucioli. 

20 Not only were the commentaries of Erasmus circulated in Italy, but those of 
Italian authors were widely read — such as those of Pietro Colonna, Laurentius 
Valla, Cardinal Cajetan, Cardinal Sadoleti, Angostino Steuchi, Folengo, and Isi- 
doro Clario. These authors display a great knowledge of the Scriptures, and all 
wrote with a simplicity which finely contrasts with the scholastic method. 



ENTRANCE OF THE NEW OPINIONS. 47 

His New Testament was printed at Venice, for the first time, 
in 1530, and the whole Bible two years later. A more accu- 
rate edition appeared in 1541. So great was the success of 
this translation, that other versions rapidly followed. ^^ This 
led the Roman Catholics to publish translations of their own 
in order to oppose those which they considered as favoring / 
the Protestant doctrines. Accordingly, those of Sante Mar- 
mochini, Fra Zaccario, Massimo Teofilo, and Filippo Rusticio 
successively appeared. The last-mentioned two were pub- 
lished at a period considerably subsequent to the others, and 
contain many excellent remarks in their prefatory and sub- 
joined discourses, on the subject of reading the Scriptures in 
the vulgar tongues. 

IX. Circumstances which favored the Entrance of the New 
Opinions into Italy. 

Nothing contributed more to the introduction of the Re- 
formed opinions into Italy, and their diffusion there, than the 
increased intercourse between that country and Germany. 
Not only did the passing of merchants from one country to 
the other facilitate their entrance, but the great increase of 
travelling had the same effect. By these means, books from 
Protestant countries in Germany and Switzerland, as we 
have already seen, continually found their way into Italy, 
and generally fell into right hands, that is, into the hands of 
those who desired to possess them. Furthermore, Italian 
youth began to frequent the German universities, and some 
even went to Wittemberg and heard the great Reformer him- 
self. These, of course, were likely to return to Italy with 
minds imbued with the new" opinions. Nor should it be 



21 Brucioli's translation is now exceedingly rare and difficult to be found. There 
is, however, a copy of the New Testament, published in 1530, in the Royal Library 
ai Berlin. And there is a copy of the whole Bible, published in 1541, in the library 
of Alfred Hennen, Esq., of New Orleans. 



V 



48 ENTRANCE OF THE REFORMATION. 

omitted in this enumeration of opportunities by which Truth 
found its way into Italy from Germany and Switzerland, 
that something was accomplished by epistolary correspond- 
ence. Many of those who embraced the Reformation in 
those countries had friends south of the Alps, to whom they 
wrote freely and fully on this all-engrossing subject. 

Nor must we forget to say a word respecting the influence 
of the wars which the Emperor of Germany, Charles V., 
carried on in the early part of the sixteenth century, first 
with Francis I., King of France, and afterwards with his 
own former ally. Pope Clement VII. In the armies of 
Charles V., there were many Protestants from Germany; 
whilst in those of his rival, Francis I., were not a few 
Protestant Swiss. These men, with the freedom peculiar to 
soldiers, spoke openly of the Keformation, and compared the 
simple and scriptural doctrines of the Peformers with the 
absurd and debasing superstitions of the Italians. They 
contrasted the humility and poverty of Luther and the other 
preachers of the new religion ; the purity of their lives, their 
beneficence, their charity, their untiring devotion to the best 
interest of the people ; with the sumptuous and luxurious 
living of the cardinals and other dignitaries of the Romish 
Church ; the ignorance, the insolence, the indolence, and the 
vices of the priests and monks. These remarks they did 
not hesitate to make to the Italians, upon whom they were 
quartered, or with whom they came in contact in any other 
manner. 

Nor should we wonder that these conversations produced 
effect upon the Italians. They had too much proof of the 
truth of the charges brought against their priests, not to feel 
their force. And in addition, they had before their eyes the 
angry manifestoes which the pope and the emperor pub- 
lished against each other. For, previously to this war, and 
during its continuance, the successor of St. Peter and the 



THE NEW OPINIONS. 49 

" First Son of the Churcli," hurled bulls and proclamations 
at each other in no stinted measure, to the great scandal of 
all the faithful, and, indeed, to the grief of every sincere 
Christian. Clement charged the emperor with indifference 
to religion, and complained of his having enacted many laws 
in various portions of his wide dominions hostile to the 
Church, and derogatory to the honor of the Holy See. And 
Charles recriminated by charging the pope with being the 
cause of the wars by which Europe had long been desolated, 
and even accused him of doing this in order to evade the 
question of reforming the abuses existing in the Church, 
which was so earnestly pressed upon him from every quarter. 
With such scandal in high places before their eyes, it is 
not strange that the attachment of the Italians to their reli- 
gion should, for a season, at least, become weakened ; nor that 
the Protestant German soldiers who were in Charles's army, 
should speak and act with great boldness. Of this they gave 
many striking proofs. In order effectually to punish the 
audacious pontiff, the emperor advanced his armies to the 
walls of Rome, took the holy city, gave it up to his soldiers 
to pillage, and compelled th^ pope, — shut up in the Castle of 
St. Angelo, — to surrender at discretion. During that period 
of interregnum in the papacy, if we may so call it, whilst 
Clement was shut up in the castle as a prisoner, the Ger- 
man soldiers, one day, took one of their number, a man of 
the name of Griinwald, remarkable for his noble countenance 
and lofty bearing, and having attired him like the pope, they 
put him on a richly caparisoned horse, and placed a triple 
crown upon his head. Others were arrayed like cardinals, 
bishops, friars, &c.; and a procession was formed, which was 
followed by a vast concourse of the people. It moved through 
all the principal streets of Rome, the mock-pope stopping in 
front of the houses where the cardinals were confined, and 
blessing the people, after the peculiar manner of the pope. 
5 



50 ENTRANCE OF THE REFORMATION. 

Arriving at length at the Castle of St. Angelo, he drank to the 
safe custody of his holiness. He then administered an oath 
to his own cardinals, binding them to yield due obedience to the 
emperor, and not to disturb the peace of the state by their 
intrigues, but, as became them, according to the precepts of 
their heavenly Master, to be subject to the civil powers. Af- 
ter having made a speech, in which he rehearsed the crimes 
of which the popes had been guilty, and extolled the emperor 
as an instrument whom God had raised up for their chastise- 
ment, the pretended pontiff promised to make over all his au- 
thority to Luther, in order that he might purify the Church 
of the corruptions with which it was infected, and refit the 
ship of St. Peter, which had so long been the sport of the 
winds and the waves, whilst the sacrilegious crew were engaged 
in drinking and debauchery. He then called upon all the 
soldiers to take an oath for the accomplishment of these good 
enterprises. Whereupon, all lifted up their hands, and shout- 
ed, " Long live Pope Luther ! Long live Pope Luther ! " 
All this took place under the eye of Clement VH. 

There seemed to be little commiseration felt any where for 
the fallen pope. All appeared lo think that his misfortunes 
were the just judgments of God for the sins of the times, 
and especially for his own amazing folly in provoking a war 
to which he was wholly unequal. 

X. Need of a Reformation felt hy some even in the Vatican, 

Nor were there wanting men, high in rank in the Roman 
hierarchy itself, who had the courage to utter powerful truths 
even before the pope and cardinals. A remarkable instance 
of this occurred at the first meeting of the Apostolical Rota, 



22 



22 The Rota^ or Rota Romana.^ is the highest papal court of appeals. It consists 
of twelve members ; and holds a session twice a week. It derives its name, (which 
signifies a wheelj) accordmg to some, from the fact that the room in the pope's pal- 
ace in which this court meets, has a floor which is inlaid with marble slabs in the 



NEED OF A REFORMATION. 51 

held after Rome was delivered from the army of Charles V. 
On that occasion, Staphylo, Bishop of Sibari, made a speech, 
in which he attributed the devastations which had taken 
place to the judgments of heaven, inflicted upon the city be- 
cause of its wickedness ; and applied to Rome the striking 
language which the prophet Isaiah addresses to Jerusalem. ^ 
Still more ; he pronounced Rome to be the Babylon of the 
Apocalypse : the " woman sitting on many waters,'' " full of 
names of blasphemy, the mother of uncleanness, fornications, 
and abominations of the earth." No Protestant has ever 
used stronger terms respecting Rome, than this prelate did 
on that occasion. 

We have endeavored to state the causes which prepared 
the way for the spread of the Reformed opinions in Italy, as 
well as the circumstances which may be considered as having 
been favorable to their dissemination. We shall see, when 
we come to trace its progress, which we now propose to do, 
that the Reformation had not only many isolated friends, but 
that in some places these not only held meetings for worship 
in private houses, but also in chapels and other buildings of 
the nature of churches. And, for a few years, the prospects 
of the Reformation in Italy were in the highest degree en- 
couraging. How these cheering prospects were suddenly 
blasted and utterly destroyed, we shall show in its proper 
place. 

shape of awheel. According to some, it is so named because, in ancient Rome, a 
round public building stood on the spot where this tribunal was first established. 
Other supreme courts, as, for example, that of Genoa, have borne the same 
name. 

23 Chapter I., verse 10. 



CHAPTER III. 

PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION IN ITALY. 

It is natural to suppose that the Reformed opinions, in 
spreading in Italy, would become first known and most 
widely disseminated in the northern portions,' owing to their 
contiguity to Switzerland and Germany, the countries of 
Zuingle, Bucer, CEcolampadius, Luther, and Melancthon. 
And such, history teaches us, was the fact. We shall, there- 
fore, follow a geographical order, in relating the progress of 
the Reformation in Italy, beginning at the north. We do 
this the more willingly, inasmuch as this order is almost as 
much that of time as it is that of place. 

I. Progress of the Reformation in Venice. 

In no part of Italy was there so much liberty of religious 
opinion, as in Venice, at the epoch of the Reformation. That 
sea-girt city was the head of a powerful commercial republic, 
whose ships did business in all seas, and whose trade ex- 
tended to almost every seaport in the civilized world. The 
rich and proud aristocracy, in whose hands the government 
ever was, were sufficiently enlightened to possess a spirit of 
toleration far beyond that which characterized the age. Ex- 
tensive intercourse with the world always generates more or 
less of such a spirit. 

The senate of Venice, in order to attract foreign merchants 
to their city, had from the earliest period, conceded a more 
than ordinary freedom of thought and speech. Among the 
strangers who visited their port, were members of the several 



VENICE. 53 

oriental cliurclies which had separated from Rome, — the 
Greek, the Arminian, the Syrian, the Nestorian. And 
though Venice was thoroughly Roman Catholic, she was 
always jealous of the ^ambitious and encroaching spirit of 
Rome. The establishment of the Inquisition within her ter- 
ritories had never been allowed ; nor was she ready to permit 
the publication and circulation of the decrees of the Vatican, 
unless they first met her approbation. In fact, the Republic 
of Venice, among Roman Catholic governments, in point of 
liberal policy in relation to religion, somewhat resembled that 
of Holland among the Protestant states. She was distin- 
guished, too, for the number of her printing presses, and 
became the mart of a great book trade. Nor was this item 
in her commerce an inconsiderable one. 

From these considerations the reader will readily infer 
that Venice was likely to be one of the first cities in Italy in 
which the Reformed doctrines would receive a lodgment. 
Accordingly we find, as has already been stated, that the writ- 
ings of the Swiss and German Reformers;, were early carried 
to that city, and not only circulated there, but spread thence 
to other points in almost every part of Italy. In the year 
1528, Luther speaks in a letter to a friend, of the great joy 
which he had in hearing that the Venetians were receiving 
the Word of God. A learned man in that city, of the name 
of Zeigler, was his warm friend, and did much to advance his 
doctrines. His adopted brother, Theodore Veit, was sent by 
him to Wittemberg, and was for some time the amanuensis 
of Luther; and through him the Reformer learned much 
from time to time, of the progress of the Truth in Italy. 

Those who were most active in promoting the Reformed 

doctrines at Venice, were Pietro Carnesecchi, Baldo Lupe- 

tino, and Baltassare Altieri. The first and second received, 

as we shall see, the crown of martyrdom. The last named 

5* 



I 



54 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

was awliile secretary of tlie English ambassador, and after- 
wards agent of the Protestant princes of Germany, and had it 
in his power, owing to his official station, to do much for the 
cause of truth in Italy. A relative of Lupetino, Matteo 
Flacio, went into Germany, and became very famous there 
for the part he took in the disputes which unhappily occurred 
in the Lutheran Church, as well as for his learned writings.^* 
Another friend of the gospel in Yenice, was Lucio Paolo 
RosselH, who, upon a report being circulated in Italy that 
Melancthon had made improper concessions to the Roman 
pontiff, wrote the Reformer a noble letter, in which he uses 
the following language : ' In this cause you ought to regard 
neither emperor nor pope, nor any other mortal, but the im- 
mortal God only. If there be any truth in what the Papists 
circulate about you, the worst consequences must accrue to 
the gospel, and to those who have been led to embrace it 
through your instrumentality and that of Luther. Be assured, 
that all Italy waits with anxiety for the result of your assem- 
bly at Augsburg. Whatever is determined by it will be em- 
braced by Christians in other countries through the authority 
of the emperor. It behooves you and others, who are there 
for the purpose of defending the gospel, to be firm, and not 
to suffer yourselves to be either frightened from the standard 
of Christ by threats, or drawn from it by entreaties and 
promises. I implore and obtest you, as the head and leader 
of the whole evangelical army, to regard the salvation of 
every individual. Though you should be called to suffer 
death for the glory of Christ, fear not, I beseech you ; it is 
better to die with honor than to live in disgrace. You shall 



24 He is known usually in ecclesiastical history, by the name of Matthceus Flacius 

Illyricus, and was the chief compiler of the Centurice Magdeburgenses, and of the 

Catcdogus Testium Veritatis. He wrote the Clavis SacrcB Scripturce.^ and an account 

of his own life, under the title of Historia Actionum et Certaminum^ which contains 

i.inany interesting anecdotes of his lime. 



VENICE. 55 

secure a glorious triumph from Jesus Christ, if you defend 
his righteous cause ; and, in doing this, you may depend on 
the aid of the prayers and supphcations of many, who, day 
and night, entreat Almighty God to prosper the cause of the 
gospel, and to preserve you and its other champions, through 
the blood of his Son. Farewell, and desert not the cause of 
Christ.' 25 

So great was the progress of the Truth in Venice, between 
the years 1530 and 1542, that the friends of evangelical doc- 
trine, who had held their meetings in private, began to dehb- 
erate on the propriety of organizmg themselves into regular 
congregations, and of assembling in public. And as several 
of the senators were known to be favorably disposed, hopes 
were entertained that the government would give its sanction 
to this measure. So much was this the case, that Melancthbn 
was induced to address a letter to the senate, urging them to 
espouse the cause of the Reformation. Had they done so, 
Venice would have become Protestant without doubt. Had 
such an event occurred, how different might have been her 
history, as well as that of some other portions of Italy ! 

Not only did the gospel gain ground in the metropolis ; it 
spread also in many cities of the Venetian territories. In 
Padua, many students and some of the professors of the Uni- 
versity, then very celebrated for its medical school, embraced 
the Truth. There were converts at Verona and Brescia, 
whilst the Bishop of Bergamo, Vittore Soranzo, was entirely 
friendly to the evangehcal doctrine. But the Reformation 
spread most in Vicenza and Treviso, and their immediate 
vicinity. The magistrates of those cities were favorable to 
the movement, or at least winked at it ; as is evident from 
the many letters addressed to them from the pope during 



25 CcElestini Act. Commit. August, torn, ii,, f. 274. — As quoted in Dr. McCrie's 
Hist, of the Reformation in Italy. 



# 

56 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

more than ten years. In 1542, when the heavy hand of per- 
secution was beginning to be felt by the followers of the 
gospel in Yenice, Yicenza, and Treviso, Altieri, in their 
name, addressed a letter to Luther, begging him to pray the 
Protestant princes of Germany to use their influence with 
the Republic to grant a cessation from violence ; at least, until 
a general council was called for settling all the questions 
concerning reform. 

II. Spread of the Reformation in Milan. 

The then Duchy of Milan was in a favorable state for 
receiving the Reformation. The people were not ignorant of 
the long resistance which that diocese had made to the arro- 
gant claims of the bishops of Rome, during the first ten cen- 
turies. They were not unacquainted with the doctrines of 
the Waldenses, in Piedmont, on their borders. And, their 
country touching Switzerland, the writings of Zuingle and 
Bucer had not only gained an early entrance into it, but also 
a considerable diffusion. As this duchy had been occupied 
by the troops of Charles Y. and Francis I., alternately, the 
Protestant soldiers in each army had spread extensively the 
doctrines of the Reformers among the people. Owing to 
these various causes, the new opinions had gained much 
ground among the Milanese before the year 1540. The most 
distinguished propagator of the evangelical faith, was one 
Celio Secundo Curio, whose career was altogether more 
remarkable than that of any of those who embraced the Re- 
formation in Italy. He was born in Turin, in the year 1503, 
and was the youngest of twenty-three children. In his early 
youth he lost his father, who bequeathed to him the best of 
legacies, a copy of the Scriptures, beautifully bound. The 
reading of the sacred volume had a great effect upon his 
mind. In his twentieth year he got hold of the writings of 
the Reformers, which established him in the faith of the 



31ANTUA. 57 

gospel. Determining to visit Germany, with two other 
young men, he was arrested on the borders of Italy, and put 
in prison. Through the solicitations of his friends he was 
released and placed in the priory of St. Benigno, whence he 
had to fly, on account of his efforts to instruct the monks in 
the evangelical doctrine, and especially for having abstracted 
some rehcs from a box on the altar of the chapel, and placed 
a Bible in their stead. Having returned to Turin, he was 
thrown into prison for heresy, and his feet made fast in the 
stocks. By stratagem he extricated himself from the fetters, 
and escaping from his imprisonment, took refuge in the 
Duchy of Milan, where he had sometime before married into 
a powerful family. For three years he gave lectures, with 
great popularity, in the University of Pavia, and was every 
day guarded, by a company of soldiers, from the attempts of 
the Inquisitors, who had orders from Home to arrest him. 
At last, when the pope threatened the senate of Pavia with 
excommunication if he was not delivered up, he retired to 
Venice, whence he removed to Ferrara. His labors, during 
his stay with the Milanese, did much to spread the Truth 
among them. 

in. The Reformation gains ground in Mantua. 

The evangelical doctrine early found friends in Mantua, 
which produced so many able men in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. Among these was a pious and liberal Benedictine, of 
the name of Gianbattista Folengo. Cardinal Gonzaga, the 
Bishop of Mantua, also favored the Truth, and for doing so 
was severely reprehended by the pope. Paul HI., as late 
as 1545, addressed him an earnest epistle, exhorting him to 
show more zeal in extirpating the heresy which he regretted 
to hear had long nestled in that ancient city and its territory, 
and which had found advocates among certain of the clergy, 
secular and regular, as well as among artisans and other 



58 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

common people. The bishop is exhorted to seek out all such, 
bring them to trial, and to inflict torture, if necessary ; and 
after having brought the trials to definitive sentence, to trans- 
mit the whole in a proper shape to Rome, for ultimate judg- 
ment. The reigning duke, it ought to be mentioned, for 
protecting his subjects from this cruel edict, incurred the 
great displeasure of his Holiness. ' 

In the neighboring city of Cremona, as well as the more 
distant Genoa, there were those who had received the 
Protestant doctrines, and met in private houses for the wor- 
ship of God. 

ly. The Truth enters Locarno, 

This little city was the capital of a small province of the 
same name, on Lake Maggiore, which had been given, with 
three other provinces, by the Duke of Milan, in the year 
1513, to the Swiss cantons, for the military aid they had 
rendered him, and was governed by a prefect, whom the can- 
tons sent by turns, every two years. At present, Locarno, 
with the bailiwicks, or provinces just referred to, belongs to 
the Canton of Ticino. 

As early as 1526, the Reformed opinions were introduced 
into Locarno by Baltassare Fontana. But the number of 
converts was small for several years, as we learn from a 
letter of his to Zuingle. Twenty years later, the Truth 
began to gain ground more rapidly, through the labors of 
Benedetto Locarno, who returned to his native place in the 
year 1546, after having preached the gospel in various places 
in Italy and Sicily. Nor did he labor alone. He was aided 
by Giovanni Beccaria, who is commonly called the apostle of 
Locarno, who had come to the knowledge of the errors of 
Rome and of the truths of the gospel by the reading of the 
Scriptures. Besides these, there were four others who were 
active in the good work, — Ludovico Runco, a citizen ; Tad- 



CAPO d'istria. 59 

deo de Dunis, a physician ; Martino de Muralto, a lawyer, 
and Yarnerio Castiglione. In the course of four years, the 
Protestants of Locarno had so increased that they had a 
numerous church, which was regularly organized, and had 
the sacraments administered by a pastor whom they had 
called from the church at Chiavenna. The priests of Kome 
tried in vain to stay the progress of the gospel in this city 
and its vicinity. 

y. The Reformation spreads at Capo d^Istria, 

The doctrines of the Reformation were long in penetrating 
into Istria, Avhich is a peninsular district on the Adriatic sea, 
then under the government of the Venetian republic. But 
its progress, when a commencement had been made, was 
rapid. The chief instruments in the good work were two 
brothers, Pierpaolo Yergerio, and his brother Gianbattista, 
both bishops of the Roman CathoUc Church, and the former 
a legate of popes Clement YII. and Paul III., to the Ger- 
man princes. It was in Germany that his mind first received 
a bias in favor of the Protestant rehgion. Upon his return 
to Italy he was made a bishop, and appointed to the diocese of 
Capo d'lstria, his native place. There he set about writing 
a work against the Reformation, m order to remove the sus- 
picions which he learned were entertained at Rome, of his 
inclination to the new opinions. Whilst writing this work 
his mind became fully convinced of their truth. His posi- 
tion now became extremely difficult. He consulted his 
brother, who was also a bishop in the same province of Istria. 
Nor was it long until he also embraced the Reformed doc- 
trine. The two brothers, thenceforward, as long as they 
were permitted to retain their dioceses, labored most dili- 
gently, yet with all possible prudence, to diffuse them aifiong 
the people of their respective charges. Nor did they labor 
in vain. Yast numbers became enlightened in the gospel 
throusrhout all Istria. 



60 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 



VI. Progress of the Reformation at Ferrara. 

In many respects, tlie history of the spread of the evan- 
gelical opinions at Ferrara is the most interesting portion of 
any work which treats of the Reformation in Italy. 

Under the government of its dukes, of the illustrious house 
of Este, this city had long vied with Florence in the encour- 
agement which it gave to learning and the fine arts. Situ- 
ated in a plain, monotonous, and insalubrious country, in 
the Valley of the Po, its natural advantages never could 
compare with those of Florence, or even Bologna. But 
what was wanting in this respect, was compensated by the 
superior wisdom and paternal spirit of several of the dukes 
of that house, who took delight in having learned men at 
their court. In the year 1527, Ercole, (or Hercules, as he 
is more commonly called by English writers,) Duke of Fer- 
rara, married the celebrated Renee, or Renata, of France. 
This excellent princess had become instructed in the evan- 
gelical doctrine before she left her native land, and gave 
decided evidence that her heart was deeply interested in it. 
It was under her auspices, that, for several years, Ferrara 
was a City of Refuge^ if we may so speak, to unfortunate 
scholars, and to persecuted Protestants, not only of France 
but also of Italy. John Calvin spent some time at the court 
of Ferrara, in his younger years, under the assumed name of 
Charles Heppeville, and was the instrument of confirming 
the duchess in the doctrines of the Reformation. And 
almost all the distinguished Protestants of Italy visited Fer- 
rara, at one period or other, and passed more or less time 
there. Among those whom we may mention here, were 
Fulvio Peregrino Morata, from Mantua, the father of the 
celebrated Olympia Morata, of whom we shall speak more 
fully hereafter, and Celio Secundo Curio, of Turin, of whom 
we have spoken already. 



PROGRESS AT FERRARA. 61 

Most of the distinguished Protestants who spent a consid- 
erable length of time at Ferrara, were either connected with 
the University, which was then in the zenith of its fame, or 
employed as tutors in the family of the Duke. 

It is not possible to ascertain the number of those in 
Ferrara who embraced the new opinions, or whether they 
worshipped in public, in churches or chapels, or held their 
assemblies in private houses. The latter is most likely to 
have been the case. It would seem that there were some- 
times several Protestant preachers among those, who, in this 
city, received the true gospel, and professed it more or less 
openly. Whatever was the extent to which the Keformed 
opinions gained ground at Ferrara, it is certain that it was 
owing to the decided patronage and encouragement of the 
Duchess Penee. 

This distinguished woman was the second daughter of 
Louis XII., who may be pronounced, on many accounts, one 
of the best monarchs France has ever had ; who, when urged 
to renew the crusades against the poor Waldenses, in Dau- 
phiny, refused to do it, saying : " They are better Christians 
than we are^ She was born at Blois, in the year 1510. 
Her mother was Anne, of Brittany, widow of Charles YIII. 
Scarcely had she reached the age of three years when she 
lost her mother, and at five she lost her father. She then 
had to depend upon the care of her brother-in-law, Francis I., 
who ascended the throne in 1515. At an early age she was 
affianced to one prince and then another, as policy dictated ; 
first to Ferdinand of Austria ; then to Charles (afterwards 
Charles Y. Emperor of Germany) ; then to the king of Eng- 
land ; then to Joachim, Marquis of Brandenburg ; and lastly 
to Ercole I., Duke of Ferrara, whom, as we have stated, 
she married in 1527. 

History informs us that this lady had few claims on the 
score of personal beauty. But she possessed what was far 
6 



62 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

more valuable — a strong intellect, a sound judgment, and 
great nobleness of soul, united with much tenderness of heart, 
and a remarkably amiable spirit. At an early age, she dis- 
played a striking fondness for those studies which are of an 
ennobling character. She became quite proficient in the ex- 
act as well as in the moral sciences. She was well acquaint- 
ed with the Latin and Greek languages. And she spoke 
Italian with the same purity and elegance that she did the 
French. 

Such a woman was Renee of France, whom God raised 
up to protect, for a season, the persecuted Protestants in 
Italy ; and then, when her enemies had rendered it impossi- 
ble for her to give further aid to the bleeding and prostrate 
cause of Truth in that country, she was permitted to return 
to her native land, and there offer an asylum to such of the 
poor persecuted Protestants of France as gathered* around 
the walls of the Castle in which she spent her declining 
vears. 

It was the misfortune of this excellent woman to be mar- 
ried to a man every way unworthy of her. Ercole I. was 
a bigoted Roman Catholic ; a man of little spirit, — who not- 
withstanding the injuries and indignities which Rome had 
heaped upon his father, who was obliged to wander for years 
as an exile, and serve in foreign armies as a soldier, in order 
to sustain existence, and when he recovered his estates was 
compelled to do it by asking pardon of the infamous Alexan- 
der yi., and by marrying his worthless daughter, Lucretia 
Borgia, — was ever ready to cringe at the feet of the reign- 
ing pontiff. Indeed, he had neither the desire nor the ability 
to extricate his neck from the yoke which his house had so 
long worn. During the first years of his marriage, he 
seemed to have some affection for his excellent wife. But 
after the death of his father, and his own accession to the 
ducal throne, it began to be manifest that he cared little for 



PROGKESS IN MODENA. 63 

her. He complied with the first solicitation to enter into a 
league with the emperor and the pope, by which he bound 
himself to remove from his court all the French who were 
suspected of heresy. Soon afterwards he went further, and 
used all the influence he had with his wife, to persuade her 
to renounce the Protestant religion, and return to the bosom 
of the Eoman Catholic Church. In the sequel, it will be 
seen to what lengths he went in this base and unmanly course. 
For the present, we must leave him and the state of things 
at Ferrara, to proceed with our notices of other places. 

VII. Progress of the Reformation in Modena, 

At this epoch, the Academy of Modena had attained to 
great repute. And it appears from the statements in Tira- 
boschi's Biblioteca Modenese, that the Reformed opinions 
early found friends among the members of that learned body, 
and that they entered freely into disputes with the priests 
and monks of the city, for whom they had the utmost con- 
tempt. Anonymous publications containing evangelical doc- 
trines, began to be printed and privately circulated; but 
were soon discovered by the Inquisitors, and burnt. In the 
year 1540, Paolo Picio came to Modena, and gave a great 
impulse to the cause of Truth, which continued long after his 
defection from the gospel. In the course of the same year, 
the celebrated Ochino came to Modena, and was for a few 
weeks heard with great interest. But he could not be in- 
duced to make a protracted stay. He preached in the 
churches of the city, for he had not yet left the Pomish 
Church. 

And although it is impossible to say how many persons in 
Modena embraced the doctrines of the Reformers, it is cer- 
tain that those who were favorable to them were quite nu- 
merous about the year 1542. 



64 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

VIII. Spread of the Evangelical Doctrine in Florence. 

The capital of Tuscany became greatly distinguished after 
the commencement of the era of the revival of letters. Its 
university far excelled all others in the number of its scholars, 
and the encouragement which it gave to the fine arts. The 
celebrated family of the Medici had expended vast sums in 
adorning and exalting their native city, and had finished by 
overthrowing its liberties. It might well be supposed that 
the luxuriousness of the great, combined with the ignorance 
and bigotry of the masses, ever under the influence of a 
numerous train of priests and monks, would interpose insur- 
mountable barriers to the progress of the evangelical doctrine 
in Florence. Yet there is abundant evidence that the good 
seed of the Reformation was widely sown in that city as 
early as the year 1525. It is a singular fact, that the Sacred 
Scriptures were translated into Italian by no less than three na- 
tivefs of Florence about this period. ^^ This shows conclusively 
that the Word of God was in considerable demand in Tuscany. 

One of these authors was the excellent Antonio Brucioli, 
whom we have referred to in a preceding chapter of this 
work. No man in Italy probably rendered such important 
services to the cause of the Reformation as he did through 
his numerous writings, and especially his translation of the 
Sacred Scriptures, and his commentaries upon them. In the 
early part of his life, he was a distinguished member of the 
Platonic Academy in Florence. And being ardently attached 
to popular liberty, he embarked in a conspiracy to expel the 
Medici. But the project having been discovered, he was 
obliged to fij. After spending some time in Yenice, he 
travelled in France and Germany. Applying himself to the 
study of Hebrew, he became distinguished for his knowledge 
of that language. In the year 1527, he returned to Florence 
after an absence of ^iyq years. But he was arrested and 

26 Brucioli, Marmochini, and Teofilo. 



IN THE STATES OF THE CHURCH. 65 

thrown into prison, on a cliarge of heresy ; and condemned 
to banishment for two years. He retired to Venice again, 
and there spent the remainder of his life, engaged in literary 
labors. For some yeai*s he was chiefly employed as a cor- 
rector of the press. At length he and his brothers, or as 
some say, his cousins, Francesco and Alessandro Brucioli, 
succeeded in establishing a printing-office of their own. 
From 1530 to 1556, the probable epoch of his death, he 
published many of his own works, including translations of 
the classics. Besides his version of the Scriptures, he wrote 
a commentary on the whole Bible, extending to seven vol- 
umes in folio, a work of great value, and abounding in evan- 
gelical views. No other writer of his time did so much for 
the cause of Truth in his native country as he did. All his 
publications were put in the Index of Forbidden Books. It 
is certain that his translation of the Bible exerted a great 
influence in Italy. 

IX. Spread of the Reformation in the States of the Church, 

The Reformation found friends in several parts of the 
pope's own dominions. In no city in all Italy did the Truth 
spread more rapidly or more extensively than in Bologna, 
which, in the sixteenth century, as at present, belonged to the 
kingdom of the pope. In this fine city is the oldest univer- 
sity in Italy ; it is perhaps the oldest in the world. And at 
the period of the Reformation, many of its members were 
evidently interested in its doctrines. John MoUio, a native 
of JMontalcino, a city in the territory of Sienna, was the 
principal instrument, under God, of promoting a knowledge 
of the gospel at Bologna. He had belonged to the Order of 
Minorites, and by a careful study of the Scriptures and the 
perusal of the works of the Reformers, had come to the 
knowledge of the " truth as it is in Jesus," which his talents 
enabled him to commend in an eloquent manner as a pro- 
6* 



QQ PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

fessor and a preacher. After having acquired great celebrity 
in the universities of Brescia, Milan, and Pavia, he came to 
Bologna about the year 1533. There the plain manner in 
which he taught the doctrine of justification by faith, in his 
lectures on the epistles of St. Paul, gave offence to some. 
Ultimately he was commanded by the pope to desist from 
teaching that doctrine ; but, continuing to do so, he was 
removed by his Holiness' order, from his chair as professor 
in the University. 

That the doctrines of the Eeformation had made great 
progress at Bologna, is manifest from a letter from some 
persons in that city, addressed to John Planitz, ambassador 
from the elector of Saxony to Charles V., who was then in 
Italy, from which we give an interesting extract. After 
having alluded to the report that he had been sent to treat 
with the emperor on the subject of convoking a general 
comicil to reform the abuses of the Church, they go on to 
say : " If this be true, as we trust it is, then we offer our 
thanks to you all — to you, for visiting this Babylonian land — 
to Germany, for demanding a council — and especially to 
your evangelical prince, who has undertaken the defence of 
the gospel and of all the faithful, with such ardor, that, not 
content with restoring the grace and liberty of Christ to his 
native Saxony and to Germany, he seeks to extend the same 
blessings to England, France, Spain, Italy, and the churches 
in every other country. We are quite aware that it is a 
matter of small consequence to you whether a council be 
assembled or not, seeing you have already, as becomes stren- 
uous and faithful Christians, thrown off the tyrannical yoke 
of Antichrist, and asserted your right to the sacred privileges 
of the free kingdom of Jesus Christ; so that you every 
where read, write, and preach at your pleasure, without any 
other restraint than the apostolic rule, that the spirits of the 
prophets be subject to the judgment of the prophets who 



IN THE STATES OF THE CHURCH. 67 

mutually teach and hear. We are aware, also, that it gives 
you no uneasiness to know that you are loaded in foreign 
countries with the heavy charge of heresy ; but that, on the 
contrary, you esteem it hiatter of joy and eternal gloriation 
to be the first to suffer reproaches, imprisonment, and fire and 
sword, for the name of Jesus. It is therefore plain to us, 
that, in urging the convocation of such a synod, you do not 
look to the advantage of the Germans, but that, obeying the 
apostolical injunction, you seek the advantage and salvation of 
other nations. On this account, all Christians profess them- 
selves under the deepest obligations to you, and especially we 
of Italy, who, in proportion to our proximity to the tyran- 
nical court, (alas ! we cherish the tyrant in our bosom,) are 
bound to give thanks for the divine blessing of your liberation. 
We beseech and obtest you, by the faith of Christ, (though 
you are sufficiently disposed to this already, and need not our 
admonitions,) to employ every means in your power with the 
religious emperor, and to leave no stone unturned to obtain 
this most desirable and necessary assembly, in which you can 
scarcely fail to succeed ; as his gentle and gracious majesty 
knows that this is desired, demanded, expected, and loudly 
called for by the most pious, learned, and honorable men in 
the most illustrious cities of Italy, and even in Rome itself; 
many of whom, we have no doubt, will flock to you, as soon 
as they shall learn that this is the object of your embassy. 
In fine, we hope that this will be willingly granted, as a 
thing most reasonable in itself, and consonant to the constitu- 
tions of the Apostles and Holy Fathers, that Christians shall 
have liberty to examine one another's confessions, since the 
just live not by the faith of others, but by their own, other- 
wise faith is not faith ; nor can that persuasion which is not 
divinely produced in the heart be properly called persuasion, 
but rather a violent and forced impulse, which the simplest 
and most ignorant must perceive to be utterly unavailing to 



68 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

salvation. But if the malice of Satan still rages, to such a 
degree that this boon cannot be immediately obtained, liberty- 
will surely be granted in the mean time both to clergy and 
laity, to purchase Bibles without incurring the charge of 
heresy, and to quote the sayings of Christ or Paul, without 
being branded as Lutherans. For, alas ! instances of this 
abominable practice are common ; and if this is not a mark 
of the reign of Antichrist, we know not what it is, when the 
law, and grace, and doctrine, and peace, and liberty of Christ, 
are so openly opposed, trampled upon, and rejected." ^ 

The number of persons favorable to Protestantism in Bo- 
logna long continued to be great. In 1545, Baltassare Altieri 
wrote to a friend in Germany, that a nobleman in that city 
was ready to raise six thousand soldiers in favor of the evan- 
gelical party, if it should be necessary to make war against 
the pope. ^ 

The Reformation never made much progress in Ancona, 
a city situated on the Adriatic coast, and within the pope's 
dominions. Yet there were some in that place who embraced 
the evangelical faith. Among them was Matteo Gentilis, a 
physician, and his two sons. He was soon compelled to quit 
his native land, on account of the change in his religion, and 
find shelter in a foreign country. He took refuge in Carniola, 
where he continued to follow his profession. His elder son, 
Alberic, went to England, and was made a professor of Laws 
at Oxford. His younger son, Scipio, held the same post at 
Altorf, in Switzerland. He was distinguished, also, as a 
scholar and a critic. 

At Faenza and Imola, both of which are in the Estates 
of the Church, or that part of Italy which acknowledges the 
popes as temporal sovereigns, were found persons who rejoiced 

27 Seckendorf, lib. iii. pp. 68, 69, as quoted by Dr. McCrie, in his History of the 
Reformation in Italy. 

28 Ibid. 



AT LUCCA, PISA, AND SIENNA. 69 

in the doctrines of tlie Reformers, and were ready to avow 
them. Nor were there wanting those even in Rome itself, 
who approved of the Reformed opinions, and who secretly 
held them. 

X. Progress of the Reformed Doctrine at Lucca, Pisa, and 

Sienna, 

Very many persons at LuccA embraced the evangelical 
doctrines. This was greatly owing to the labors of Martire, 
commonly called Martyr, who gathered a church there, to 
which he officiated as pastor. The climate of Naples had 
not permitted him to continue his labors in that great city. 
Upon his coming to Lucca, he formed a college, and employed 
several able professors, who were lovers of divine truth, 
among whom were Paolo Lacisio, Celso Martinengho, and 
Emmanuel Tremellio. A great blessmg attended the in- 
structions of these learned and pious men. 

At Pisa, the Truth made great progress, and, in the year 
1543, the Protestants formed themselves into a church, and 
had the sacrament of the Lord's Supper celebrated among 
them. The Pisans received the knowledge of the evangel- 
ical Faith from the Christians of Lucca. 

There were also many converts to the gospel at Sienna, 
through the labors of Ochino, who was a native of that city, 
and often visited it in his preaching tours. But it was to 
Aonio Paleario, a native of Campagna di Roma, that the 
Siennese were mainly indebted for the knowledge of the 
doctrines of the Reformation. He was a teacher of philos- 
ophy and belles lettres in that city, as well as a preacher of 
righteousness. He gave great offence by his remarks re- 
specting the ignorant and vain priests, whose hypocrisy he 
exposed in the severest terms. But his work entitled: 11 
Beneficio di Christo, ^^ gave the greatest offence of all. 

29 Benefit of the Death of Christ. 



70 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

And although he made a triumphant defence of himself be- 
fore the senate of Sienna, he was, soon afterwards, compelled 
to quit that city ; and ultimately met the fate of a martyr. 

XL Progress of the Reformation in the Kingdom of the 

Two Sicilies, 

At the time of which we are writing, what is now the 
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was not yet formed ; but the 
southern part of Italy and the Island of Sicily belonged to 
Spain, and were governed by viceroys appointed by Charles V. 
Even into these distant provinces did the doctrines of the 
glorious Reformation penetrate. As to Calabria, or the 
southern extremity of the Italian peninsula, the reader may 
remember that we have spoken of a colony of Yaudois or 
Waldenses, from the valleys of Piedmont, as having existed 
two centuries in that country, and as being in existence still 
at the commencement of the Reformation. 

In the city of Naples there were many who early imbibed 
a love for the doctrines of the Reformation, of which they 
probably first received some notions from the Grerman sol- 
diers of Charles V., who, after having relieved that city 
from the siege which the French were carrying on, remained 
there a considerable time. We know that as early as 1536, 
Charles V., by a very rigorous edict, charged Don Pedro de 
Toledo, his viceroy at Naples, with the discovery and punish- 
ment of all who were infected with heresy, or who were 
inclined to it. 

The cause of Truth was afterwards greatly promoted in 
Naples by three excellent men, who may justly be styled the 
great reformers of that city. These were Juan Yaldes, 
Bernardino Ochino, and Pietro Martire Vermigli. 

Juan Valdes was a Spaniard, who accompanied Charles Y. 
into Germany, where, like many others, he received his first 
impressions in favor of the Reformed doctrine. He was 



REFORMATION IN THE TWO SICILIES. 71 

knighted by Charles Y. and sent from Germany to Naples, 
where he acted as secretary of the viceroy, Pedro de Toledo. 
Possessed of learning, united with superior address, piety, 
gentleness, politeness, and eloquence in conversation, he be- 
came a great favorite with the higher classes of people in 
Naples. He never became a preacher, but he labored to do 
good by exhortation in the private meetings of those who 
received the truth, by stimulating others who were preachers, 
and by employing his pen for the advancement of the gospel. 
His commentaries on the epistles of St. Paul, and on the 
Psalms, were considered excellent, though they contained a 
few things to wliich Beza and other Protestant authors have 
objected. His work on the epistle to the Romans, and his 
commentary on the Psalms, in Spanish, were published at 
Venice, some fifteen or sixteen years after his death, which 
occurred in 1540, to the sorrow of many in Naples and 
elsewhere. 

Bernardino Ochino, or, as he is sometimes called, Ocello, was 
born in the year 1487, at Sienna, in Tuscany. His parents 
were poor and obscure. He entered, at an early age, a con- 
vent of Franciscan Observantines, as being the best of all 
the orders of the regular clergy. At the age of forty-seven, 
he joined the Capuchins, an order which had not then been 
long established, and w^hich was reckoned the most strict of 
all in its rules. As he informs us himself, in the work which 
he wrote after quitting Italy, and in which he assigns the 
reasons which influenced him in taking that step, his mind 
was never at ease until he arrived at a comprehension of 
the doctrine of justification by faith. He w^as ever and 
vainly seeking salvation through his own merits. And find- 
ing that he daily came short of fulfilling God's holy law, 
however great were his efforts, and however multiplied his 
penances and his self-inflictions, he was never able to attain 
to solid peace of soul. 



72 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

Ochino was a man of little learning, but of extraordinary- 
eloquence. His appearance, too, after he had passed the 
middle period of life, was exceedingly imposing. His hair 
became perfectly white ; and his beard, of the same color, 
flowed down to his girdle. His face was always pale ; and 
his whole aspect was very venerable and striking. As he 
was decidedly the first orator in Italy, in his day, he was un- 
boundedly popular wherever he went. He preached much at 
Naples ; but he also visited Venice and the other chief cities 
throughout all Italy. Although a monk, he preached much ; 
for it is customary in Italy for monks to preach, rather than 
the parish or secular clergy. His well known piety and 
sanctity of life gave great force to his eloquence, which was 
of a fervid and impressive character. He was unanimously 
chosen General of his Order, in 1538, and again in 1541. 
But his religious opinions had undergone a complete change, 
even before he attained his vast popularity. His great pru- 
dence enabled him for years to preach the gospel without 
giving open offence to its enemies, and to the great joy of its 
friends ; because he contented himself with simply preaching 
the truth, without even alluding to the corresponding errors. 
When he came to preach at Naples, the penetrating eye of 
Yaldes quickly discerned the Protestant under the garb of 
the Capuchin, and, having gained his confidence, he introduced 
him to the private meetings of the friends of the evangelical 
doctrine in that city. Ochino was emphatically a preacher, 
not an author. 

Pietro Martire Yermigli, or Peter Martyr, as he is more 
commonly called by English writers, was born in Florence, 
in the year 1500. His family was an honorable one, and he 
received a liberal education. He pursued his studies at the 
University, of Padua, and afterwards visited the most cele- 
brated academies in Italy. In opposition to the will of his 
parents, he had entered among the canons regular of St. 



REFORMATION IN THE TWO SICILIES. 73 

Augustine in early life. He studied Greek at Padua, and 
Hebrew at Bologna. He distinguished himself, before the 
age of thirty, as a preacher at Rome, Bologna, Pisa, Venice, 
Mantua, etc., for he was appointed by the Augustinians to 
preach in their churches in those cities during Lent, and on 
other great occasions. About the age of thirty he was elect- 
ed Abbot of Spoleto, and, soon after, Head of the College of 
St. Pietro ad aram, in the city of Naples, a post of dignity 
and emolument. It was not long after this that his religious 
sentiments underwent a complete change. This was effected 
by the reading of the Scriptures and certain writings of the 
Reformers which fell into his hands, and most of all, perhaps, 
by the conversations of Valdes, Flaminio, and others, with 
whom he became acquainted at Naples. 

Martire was a man of great learning and extraordinary 
prudence. Both in his sermons and in his expository lectures 
on portions of the Sacred Scriptures, he cared less about 
attacking error, than about establishing truth. It was in 
this way that his labors had so great an effect in under- 
mining the corrupt system of Rome without awaking the 
prejudices of those who heard him. The same course was 
pursued also by his friend and coadjutor, Mollio. 

By the blessing of God on the labors of Valdes, Martire, 
Ochino, Flaminio, Mollio, and others, a Reformed church was 
established in Naples, which included persons of the highest 
rank in the kingdom. Among these we may mention the 
names of Galeazzo and Caraccioli, Gianfrancesco de Caserta, 
and Bernardino Bonifacio. To these we may add, Antonio 
Caraccioli, son of the prince Melphi, who then imbibed a 
taste for the evangelical doctrines, though he did not profess 
them till long afterwards. He went to France, and was 
made Abbot of St. Victor, at Paris. Soon afterwards he was 
appointed Bishop of Troyes. Having at length become con- 
vinced of the truth of the Reformed doctrines^ he became 
7 



74 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

a Protestant minister, and preached for some time to the 
Protestants of that city. 

Not only were the doctrines of the Eeformation received 
in the capital ; they spread also in all parts of the kingdom 
of Naples, and even into Sicily. The viceroys of that island 
being engaged in defending their coasts agauist the Turks, 
had not leisure to attend to the subject of heresy. On the 
contrary, their mild and tolerant spirit rather encouraged 
those who were persecuted elsewhere to seek refuge with 
them. It was in this way that the seeds of truth were 
widely scattered in that island. At a no very distant day 
they produced a harvest. It was then that the inquisitors 
found there enough to do in the way of extirpating heresy. 
The most active in spreading the truth in Sicily, we may 
remark, was Benedetti Locarno, so called from the place of 
his birth, and of whom we have already made mention, when 
speaking of Locarno. 

We have now finished our brief survey of the principal 
places in Italy, where the doctrines of the Reformers spread 
for a season. 

We shall conclude this chapter with some remarks on a 
few topics that are intimately connected with the progress of 
the Reformation in that country, and which have a tendency 
to throw some light upon it. 

1. The unhappy controversies which arose there, which 
divided the Protestants and hindered their efforts. These 
were two. The first was the dispute, which began originally 
between the Swiss and German Reformers, on the subject of 
the Eucharist, and was transferred into Italy by some indis- 
creet and zealous friends of these respective parties. It is 
well known to every one who has any acquaintance with the 
history of the Reformation, that a difference of opinion was 
early maintained by Zuingle, on the one hand, and Luther 
on the other, respecting the doctrine of the presence of the 



UNHAPPY CONTROVERSIES. 75 

Saviour in the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper ; the former hold- 
ing that Christ is spiritually present in that ordinance, and 
that the bread and wine are but symbols of his body and 
blood ; whilst the latter held to the doctrine of consuhstantia- 
tion^ or the presence of Christ bodily, as well as spirit- 
ually, with the elements of bread and wine. This dispute 
was carried on with great earnestness, and we are compelled 
to say, with fierceness, and even bitterness, especially on the 
part of Luther. After the death of Zuingle, his opinions 
were ably defended by CEcolampadius, Bullinger, and Calvin. 
Almost all the Swiss and French Reformers agreed with 
Zuingle^s opinions on this subject. On the contrary, the 
Germans generally received the doctrine of Luther, and 
strenuously maintained it. There were, however, two men 
who acted as conciliators and moderators, to their everlasting 
honor, — Bucer on the one side, and Melancthon on the other. 
The scandal was great enough, as it was : it would have been 
vastly greater if it had not been for their mild counsels. 

The Italian Protestants were generally disposed to follow 
the opinion of Zuingle ; but there were many, especially 
about Venice, who were warm advocates of that of Luther. 
Both Bucer and Melancthon used their efforts to produce 
union, deeply convinced of the importance of Italian Protes- 
tants being of one mind, or at least not torn in pieces by 
factions. Their letters were full of wisdom and charity. It 
is deeply to be deplored, that Luther, instead of allaying the 
strife, did all he could, in an evil hour, to foment it. His 
letters to his friends in Venice, display the spirit of a narrow- 
minded and jealous partisan, instead of the noble Reformer, 
which, notwithstanding this sad mistake, he must ever appear 
to every sincere Protestant. 

But, as if this were not enough, another controversy arose 
to divide the poor Protestants of Italy, just as they were on 



76 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

the point of being devoured by their common enemy — that 
relating to the Trinity, and, by consequence, the Personality 
and proper Divinity of Christ, together with the nature of 
his work in the question of man's salvation. 

Some, in attempting to account for the rise and spread of 
Socinian opinions among the Protestants in Italy, have main- 
tained that there was always in that country, even down to 
the 16th century, a remainder of the heresy of Arianism, 
and that that error crept in among those who received the 
Reformed doctrine, from this source. But the fact is — nor 
ought we to be surprised at it — in almost every country 
where the Reformation spread, errorists of one kind and 
another were soon found to be attaching themselves to its 
skirts, or rather to be concealing themselves beneath them. 
It was just so in the original progress of Christianity. In 
this world of sin, wherever Truth appears, Error will also 
soon appear by her side. But in this case, it is wholly prob- 
able that the first seeds of Socinianism, or what has long 
passed under that name, were sowed in Italy by the well- 
known Michael Servetus. The visit which this Spaniard 
made to Italy gave him an opportunity of making the ac- 
quaintance of several of the Reformers of that country. 
Upon their minds he doubtless endeavored to produce an 
impression, both by his correspondence and by his books. 
Nor did he labor without success. 

Several causes concurred to give circulation to antitrini- 
tarian opinions in Italy. In the first place, all men, when 
suddenly emancipated from the thraldom of human authority 
and tradition, are in danger of transcending the limits of even 
revealed truth, in their inquiries and speculations. Secondly, 
the Italians were peculiarly exposed to this, both from the 
fact that they had been more thoroughly in bondage to error 
as being nearer to Rome, and from the constitution of their 



UNHAPPY CONTROVERSIES. 77 

minds, wliicli are singularly acute and bold, and had for a 
long time been occupied with the Platonic and Skeptical ideas 
in philosophy. All the Reformers ^ who corresponded with the 
Italian Protestants, remarked the existence of this character 
of mind in them. In the third place, the academies that, in 
such great numbers, sprang up in Italy, about this period, 
and which did not differ much in character from the associa- 
tions and societies with us in which lectures are delivered and 
debates allowed, greatly fostered the spirit of bold specula- 
tion and fearless avowal. And in the last place, the Protest- 
ants in Italy, in most places, had no public assemblies, nor 
regularly organized churches, in which discipline might be 
maintained and error suppressed. As there was not one 
government in all Italy that was willing to protect the 
Reformers, or to stand by them when Rome commenced her 
fulminations, it is evident that the Truth labored under every 
disadvantage. Her advances were made only in secret, as 
it were, and soon persecution began to rage, and in time an- 
nihilated every vestige of her progress. 

These antitrinitarian speculations and heresies seem to 
have begun at Sienna, the birthplace of the Socini, (from 
whom the word Socinian is derived,) and thence to have been 
transferred to the Venetian territories, where they found 
greater favor than in any other part of Italy. And although 
there is reason to reject the statements of some of the Soci- 
nian authors in regard to the numbers who received this 
heresy, as Dr. McCrie has justly remarked, it cannot be 
denied that there were some in various places who seemed to 
have embraced that doctrine, and not a few who were favor- 
ably inclined to it. And when persecution dispersed the 
Protestants of Italy, this dreadful error was carried by its 
advocates from that country to various parts of Christendom, 

30 Melancthon, {Epist. coll. 852, 941.) Cahdn, ( Opera, torn. vii. p. 510.) 
7* 



78 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

— particularly to the Canton of the Grisons ^^ in Smtzer- 
land, to Transylvania, and to Poland. 

2. It is an interesting fact that the doctrines of the Refor- 
mation were embraced by some of the first ladies of Italy, in 
point of mind and attainments. In no other country had 
letters been more zealously or successfully cultivated by 
women of superior rank since the revival of learning. Sis- 
mondi remarks also, in his invaluable history of the Italian 
Republics, that whatever piety existed in that country, at 
the close of the fifteenth century, was to be found among the 
female portion of the population. ^^ And Folengo, in his com- 
mentary on the Psalms, says : ' In our age we behold the ad- 
mirable spectacle of women (whose sex is more addicted to 
vanity than to learning) having their minds deeply imbued 
with the knowledge of heavenly doctrine. In Campania, 
where I now write, the most learned preacher may become 
more learned and holy by a single conversation with some 
women. In my native country of Mantua, too, I found the 
same thing ; and were it not that it would lead me into a digres- 
sion, I could dilate with pleasure on the many proofs which 
I received, to my no small edification, of an unction of spirit 
and fervor of devotion in the sisterhood, such as I have rarely 
met with in the most learned men of my profession.' ^ 

Among the illustrious women of Italy who were suspected 
of heresy, we may place Isabella Manricha, of Bresenga, 
who became converted to the faith by Valdes, and who, find- 
ing no rest in her own land from the importunities and 
threats of her friends, retired to Zurich, and eventually to 
the Canton of the Grisons, where she spent the remainder of 

31 Zanchi, an excellent Italian Protestant, who look refuge in the Grisons, in 
speaking of Socinianism, said : ' Spain produced the hen ; Italy hatched the egg ; 
and we in the Grisons now hear the chicks pip.' 

32 Histoire des RepubUques, d "> Italic^ torn. vii. p. 238. 

33 Folengius in Psalmos; apud Gerdesii, ltd. Rcf. p. 261 — quoted in Dr. McCrie's 
Hist, of the Reformation in Italy, p. 157. 



ILLUSTRIOUS PROTESTANT LADIES. 79 

life in contented poverty ; Lavinia della Rovere, daughter- 
in-law to the celebrated Camillo Orsini, who, whilst she lived 
a life of great purity in Rome, exerted much influence, 
through her father-in-law, in behalf of the Protestants who 
fell into the hands of the Inquisition; 'than whom,' says 
Olympia Morata, ' I know not a more learned, or, what is 
still higher praise, a more pious woman in Italy.' Madonna 
Maddelena, and Madonna Cherubina, both distinguished 
ladies of the Orsini family; Madonna Elena Rangone, of 
Bentivoglio, member of a family of that name at Modena, 
distinguished for the patronage wliich it extended to litera- 
ture ; JuHa Gonzaga, Duchess of Trajetto and Countess of 
Fondi, and sister of the celebrated Luigi II., Count of Sab- 
ionetta — esteemed one of the most beautiful women in Italy, 
whom Solyman, the Turkish emperor, through his troops, 
attempted, but in vain, to seize and carry off, and who nobly 
protected the preachers of the evangelical doctrine. To 
these, Dr. McCrie adds, though hesitatingly, the name of 
Vittoria Colonna, widow of the celebrated General Fernando 
Davalos, Marquis of Pescara. But it would seem, that, 
although this distinguished lady was very fond of hearing 
Ochino, and associated much with the other Reformers at 
Naples, she afterwards became so much under the influence 
of Cardinal Pole and Cardinal Cervini, (Pope MarceUus 11.) 
that she had no sort of intercourse with the Protestants in 
her latter years. Far better entitled to be ranked among 
them was Olympia Morata, who, though not born of a noble 
family, was, in a higher sense ennobled by the splendid tal- 
ents which she possessed, by her attainments in science and 
literature, and, above all, by the many virtues which adorned 
her character. 

3. It is an indisputable fact, that, at the time of which we 
write, there were many men of learning and distinction in 
Italy, who sympathized more or less with the Reformers, but 



80 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

who were restrained by various considerations from ranging 
themselves under their banners. Some who agreed with 
Luther and Zuingle, as to the great doctrines of salvation, 
and rejoiced in their bold avowal of them, despaired of see- 
ing them prevail, because of the mighty obstacles which the 
Papacy opposed in Italy, its strong-hold, to their propagation. 
Others hoped that the eiforts of the Reformers would lead to 
the renovation of the Roman Catholic Church, and yet leave 
the great features of its organization, including the supremacy 
of the Bishop of Rome, untouched. Most of the Reformers 
themselves, had, at the outset, entertained this hope. Others 
there were, who, whilst they had little sympathy for the new 
doctrines, and, in fact, did not believe them, yet felt a deep 
interest in their progress ; hoping that, by means of the 
schism which it threatened to effect, the clergy would be 
forced to correct the many abuses which had become too 
flagrant to be denied or defended. 

By whatever motive actuated, there is no doubt that there 
were many persons in Italy, distinguished for their talents 
and station, who remained to the last in the bosom of the 
Church of Rome, who, nevertheless, held doctrines very 
different, on many points, from those which the Council of 
Trent afterwards pronounced to be those of that Church, and 
for this reason, could not avoid taking an interest in the 
Reformation. The Index of Forbidden Books, contains the 
names of not a few authors who lived at this period in Italy, 
whose writings were condemned for heresy, but who still 
remained in the Roman Catholic Church. And yet, the 
Index has itself been expurgated of many names that were 
originally in it, lest the modern Italians should see how great 
was the number of distinguished men in their own country 
that sympathized with the Reformation. Tlie celebrated and 
excellent French historian, De Thou, says, that those who, 
at that time, were disposed to exert themselves for a reforma- 



DISTINGUISHED FRIENDS OF THE REFORMATION. 81 

tion of the Churcli, held frequent consultations respecting 
faith, works, grace, free-will, election, &c.; and that many 
of them holding opinions different from those of the Church, 
on these subjects, took refuge under the authority of St. Au- 
gustine. ^ 

In the list of such authors as we have just referred to as 
holding doctrines which coincided with those of the Reformers 
on many points, we must place Angelo Manzolli, physician to 
Ercole, Duke of Ferrara, whose Latin poem, Zodiacus 
Vit<Ej was put in the Index, and whose bones were taken out 
of their grave and burnt ; Marco Antonio Flaminio, whose 
commentary on the Psalms abounds with evangelical doc- 
trine, but who, seven years before his death, wrote a letter 
in which he maintained the doctrine of transubstantiation, and 
died in the communion of the Eoman Catholic Church ; An- 
gelo Buonarici, general of the canons regular at Venice, who, 
in his exposition of the Apostolical Epistles, states the doc- 
trine of justification by faith as clearly as any of the Reform- 
ers have done ; Giovanni Grimani, a Venetian of noble birth ; 
and Celio Calcagnini, ' one of the most learned men of his 
age,' according to Tiraboschi. ^^ To these we may even add 
the names of several members of the Sacred College, who 
held and published opinions entirely evangelical on the sub- 
ject of justification by faith, — all of them before, and some 
of them after, they had received the purple and the cap, — 
namely, Gasparo Contarini, Morone, Frederigo Fregoso, and 
Reginald Pole. There is no doubt that the last named held 
the truth at one period of his life, and seemed to delight in 
the society of those who did. And yet no member of the 
Sacred College exerted in the end so baleful an influence. 
He not only succeeded by his winning manners in retaining 

34 De Thou, Histoire, d Pan, 4551. 

35 Storia, vii. 163. 



82 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

many distinguished men in Italy, in tlie communion of Rome, 
but he did vast injury in England, his native land, whither 
he was sent to endeavor to restore the dominion of popery, — 
in which, alas, he was but too successful. 

It is certain that the Reformed opinions were becoming 
widely, if not very deeply diffused in Italy ; and if there had 
been any prince of considerable importance in that country 
disposed to do what the Elector of Saxony did in Ger- 
many — afford protection to the Protestants — the glorious 
Reformation would have triumphed south, as it did north, of 
the Alps. That there was danger of this, the friends of the 
papacy were aware, and began early to be filled with appre- 
hension. Sadoleti and Caraffa, both members of the Sacred 
College, informed the Pope, Paul III., that there was ' an 
almost universal defection of men's minds from the Church, 
and an inclination to execrate ecclesiastical authority ; ' and 
^ that the whole of Italy was infected with the Lutheran 
heresy, which had been extensively embraced both by states- 
men and ecclesiastics.' ^ Tiraboschi says, ' there was scarcely 
a city of Italy into which error had not attempted to insinu- 
ate itself, and every where almost it had its partisans and fol- 
lowers.' ^ It is no wonder, therefore, that Melancthon, who, 
in one of his letters, says, that ' whole Hbraries ' were carried 
from the fairs in Germany into Italy, and the other Reformers 
rejoiced for awhile at the cheering prospect of the triumph 
of the Truth in that country. Alas, these hopes were soon 
to be disappointed, and the thick clouds of error and super- 
stition, which had begun to roll up from the edges of the 
moral horizon, returned again to their former position, and 
grew even more dense and portentous. 

For awhile Rome was undecided what course to pursue. 

36 Raynaldi, ^wmiZ, ad an. 1539; and Spondani, Annal^ ad an. 1542, — quoted by 
Dr. McCrie, in his Hist, of the Reformation in Italy ^ p. 177. 

37 BiUioteca Modenese^ torn. i. p. 20. 



DISTINGUISHED FRIENDS OF THE REFORMATION. 83 

Eeform was demanded from almost every quarter of Chris- 
tendom. At first, it was thought that this voice must be 
listened to; and Pope Paul III., in 1537, appointed four 
cardinals and five prelates, to confer on the subject and give 
him their advice as to the best method of reforming the 
abuses of the Church. This commission met at Bologna, and 
after long deliberation, reported a number of evils, — such as 
the intrusion of improper persons into the priesthood, the sale 
of benefices and the dispositioti of them by testaments, the 
granting of dispensations, and the union of bishoprics, includ- 
ing the incompatible offices of cardinal and bishop, etc., — 
which called for speedy remedy. This ' Advice,' Paul III. 
approved and published, but did not follow. And still worse, 
Cardinal Caraffa, one of the commission, when he ascended 
the papal throne, as he did, under the name of Paul TV,, put 
this document in the Index of Forbidden Books ! This Advice, 
we may remark, afforded no little amusement in Germany. 
Luther translated it into German, and prefixed an engraving, 
representing the pope seated on a lugh throne, surrounded by 
his cardinals, who were all busy sweeping the room, each 
with a broom made of a long pole with a fox's tail fastened to 
the end ! Among other things, the Advice recommended that 
the Colloquies of Erasmus, the best work that ever came 
from his polished pen, should be forbidden to be used in the 
schools, because of its dangerous tendency. It was well for 
them that the learned author was in his grave, or they would 
soon have felt the effects of his caustic wit. 

But Rome at length abandoned her vacillating policy. She 
laid her schemes deep in diabolical cunning. She resolved, 
indeed, to call a general council ; not to reform the Church, 
but to complete the vast- fabric of error, at which she had 
been toiling for ages, and place upon it the cap-stone. This 
she did by means of the Council of Trent. And at the same 
time she resolved that the Reformed doctrine should be ex- 



84 PROGRESS OF THE REFORMATION. 

terminated every where in Christendom, where she had the 
power to do it by violence ! And soon blood flowed from 
one extremity of Italy to the other, and the prayers and the 
groans of the victims ascended to heaven, one day to be an- 
swered and avenged, from many a city in that ill-fated land. 



CHAPTER lY. 

SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

But at length the storm which had been long collecting 
began to pour its fury upon the devoted Protestants of Italy. 
It was in the year 1542 that the papal court, instigated by 
the clamors which were now made in all parts of Italy, 
especially by the various orders of friars, began to take ef- 
fectual measures for the suppression of the Reformed opin- 
ions. Nor was it only the voice of the inferior priests and 
monks which was heard calling for vengeance upon those 
who held and who propagated such tenets. Cardinal Pietro 
Caraffa, afterwards known as Paul IV., attained an infamous 
notoriety in this bloody affair. In former years he had, as 
we have already stated, held correct opinions on the subject 
of justification by faith, and had a great reputation for sanc- 
tity. He was a man of letters, too, and a patron of learning. 
To him Erasmus dedicated his Jerome^ and extolled him in a 
manner whoUy unworthy of his polished pen — a service 
which Caraffa requited, when pope, by putting this very 
edition of Jerome in the Index, together with all the other 
writings of Erasmus. The record in that work is as follows : 
' Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam, with all his commentaries^ 
annotations, scholia, dialogues, epistles, critiques, translations, 
books, and manuscripts ; even if they contain nothing at all 
against religion, or concerning religion.' ^ He laid before 
the Sacred College the discoveries which he had made respect- 
ing the extent to which heresy prevailed in Naples and else* 



38 Index Auctorum et Librorum Prohtbitonim, sig. b. 3. Romae, 15®^. 

8 



86 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

where in Italy, and exhorted to vigorous measures to arrest 
its further progress. 

I. Ochino and Martyr jiy. 

The onset was made upon Bernardino Ochino and Pietro 
Martyr, as the most prominent of the Reformers at Naples. 
Spies were employed to report every thing they said and 
did. Ochino had many enemies among the friars of his 
Order, that of the Capuchins, because of the reforms which 
he had introduced into the monastic establishments of which 
he had the oversight, as the superior of the Order. Haiang 
been indicted for what he had said in his sermons at Venice, 
during Lent, in the year just referred to (1542), as well as 
for some things advanced in his Lectures on the Epistles of St. 
Paul, which he shortly after that season had commenced 
reading at Venice, he set off for Rome, in order to defend 
himself. Upon his arrival at Florence, he learned that his 
death was resolved upon by the papal court. Instead of ad- 
vancing further, he retired hastily to Ferrara, and, aided by 
the Duchess Renee, escaped from Italy, and took refuge 
in Geneva. Great were the affected lamentations at Rome 
over his defection. In particular, his friend Caraffa poured 
forth his feelings in a most bombastic letter which he ad- 
dressed to the Capuchin, now happily escaped from his 
clutches : ' What has befallen thee, Bernardino ? "What 
evil spirit has seized thee, like the reprobate king of Israel 
of old ? My father, my father ! The chariot and the chari- 
oteer of Israel I whom, a little while ago, we with admiration 
beheld ascending to heaven in the spirit of Elias, must we 
now bewail thy descent to hell with the chariots and horse- 
men of Pharaoh ? All Italy flocked to thee ; they hung 
upon thy breast ; thou hast betrayed the land ; thou hast 
slain the inhabitants. O, doting old man, who has bewitched 
thee to feign to thyself another Christ than thou wert taught 



OCHINO AND MARTYR FLY. 87 

by the Catholic Church ? Ah ! Bernardino, how great wert 
thou in the eyes of all men ! O, how beautiful and fair ! 
Thy coarse but sacred cap ^^ excelled the cardinal's hat and 
the pope's mitre ; thy nakedness the most gorgeous apparel ; 
thy bed of wattles the softest and most delicious couch ; thy 
deep poverty the riches of the world. Thou wert the herald 
of the Highest, the trumpet sounding far and wide ; thou 
wert full of wisdom and adorned with knowledge ; the Lord 
placed thee in the garden of Eden, in his holy mount, as a 
light above the candlestick, as the sun of the people, as a 
pillar in his temple, as a watchman in his vineyard, as a shep- 
herd to feed his flock. Still thy eloquent discourses sound in 
'our ears ; still we see thy unshodden feet. Where now are 
all thy magnificent words concerning contempt of the world ? 
Where thy invectives against covetousness ? Thou, that didst 
teach that a man should not steal, dost thou steal ? ' ^ 

From Geneva, Ochino replied to the letters addressed to 
him, as well as to the attacks made upon his opinions and his 
character. And as his writings were all in the Italian lan- 
guage, and of a popular style, they had no little circulation 
in Italy. His flight was the signal for the arrest of many of 
his friends, and a rigid investigation of the sentiments of his 
Order. Some recanted, and some made their escape. So 
great was the number of Capuchins who were infected with 
heresy, that the pope proposed at one time to suppress the 
whole Order. 

In the mean while, Martyr, finding himself in danger at 
Lucca, took measures also, to escape to Zwitzerland. He 
had long been hated by many of the Augustinians, because 

39 The cap or hood of the Capuchin monks is made of coarse cloth ; their dress is 
of the same material, and they wear nothing on their feet, or, at most, only a 
sandal, which covers little more than the sole of the foot. 

40 Bock, Hist. Antitrin. tom. ii. p. 485. Quirini Diatr. ad vol iii. Epistolm PoU^ 
p. 86, quoted by McCrie, in his History of the Reformation in Italy ^ pp. 183, 184. 



88 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

of the reformation of manners wliich he, as visitor-gen- 
eral of the Order, endeavored to enforce. Giving up a part 
of his library to the convent over which he had presided, and 
committing the rest to Cristoforo Trenta, a nobleman of 
Lucca, his intimate friend, to be sent after him, he retired 
with Paolo Lacisio, Teodosio Trebellio, and Julio Terentiano, 
to Pisa, whence he sent back the ring which he had worn as 
the badge of his office. Thence he went by way of Bologna, 
Ferrara, and Verona, to Zurich, accompanied by his three 
friends. From Zurich they were immediately invited to 
Strasburg by Bucer, where they obtained situations as pro- 
fessors in the academy. From that city. Martyr wrote to 
the Reformed Church at Lucca, giving his reasons for aban- 
doning that city, and exhorting the brethren to steadfastness. 
His letters to them continued, for years, to be frequent. Nor 
were they in vain. The Church continued to exist, and even 
increased in numbers, under the protection of some powerful 
citizens. But many of the monks of the convent over which 
Martyr was superior were arrested, and, within less than a 
year, eighteen of them escaped to Switzerland. 

II. Celio Secundo Curio escapes. 

After the flight of Martyr, Curio remained at Lucca more 
than a year, officiating as a religious teacher among the Prot- 
estants, and holding his post as a professor in the University. 
But the pope having written to the magistrates of that city, 
demanding his arrest and his appearance at Rome, to answer 
the charges brought against him, they, finding they could no 
longer protect him, gave him notice, privately, to make his 
escape. Upon this, he retired to Ferrara, whence he went 
to Zurich and Berne, commended to the magistrates by letters 
from the Duchess Renee, and finally took up his abode at 
Lausanne. In the course of a few months he ventured to 
return into Italy for his wife and children whom he had left 



THE INQUISITION IN ITALY. 89 

at Lucca. His enemies soon discovered his track, and pur- 
sued him to the village of Pessa, near to Lucca, where he 
was waiting for his family. One day whilst he was seated 
at dinner, a captain of a papal band walked in and called 
upon him to surrender himself as a prisoner. Curio, who 
was engaged in carving a piece of meat, advanced to do as 
he was ordered, involuntarily holding the large knife, which 
he had been using, in his hand. The poor captain seeing 
him to be a large and strong man, and thinking that he was 
about to attack him with the knife, retired to a corner of the 
room and stood trembling like a convict. In the mean while 
Curio, with great presence of mind walked out of the door, 
and passing unharmed through the armed band who were 
awaiting their leader, went instantly to his stable, took a 
horse and escaped. 

ni. Reorganization of the Inquisition in Italy. 

The effective cause of the suppression and ultimate de- 
struction of the Reformation in Italy, in the sixteenth cen- 
tury, was the establishment, or, to speak more correctly, the 
reorganization, of the Liquisition in that country. 

The Liquisition, as is well known, was instituted in the 
twelfth century. From the first, it was established in Italy ; 
but, so great was the opposition to it, especially in the free 
cities and states, that effectual measures were adopted in the 
fourteenth century to restrain its exorbitant power in all parts 
of that country. The cognizance of that tribunal was re- 
stricted to questions of heresy, and the power of imprison- 
ment, confiscation, fine, and corporal punishment was declared 
to appertain solely to the secular arm. The bishops, too, 
were authorized to take part in the examination of the accused. 
Thus the Inquisition in Italy became a very different affair 
from what it ever was in Spain. The popes found that it 
was utterly impotent to extirpate heresy, and therefore set 

8* 



90 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

about its reorganization essentially after tlie Spanish model. 
For this purpose Paul III. issued a bull, bearing the date of 
April 1st, 1543, by which he founded at Rome the Congrega- 
tion of the Holy Office. By this edict six cardinals were con- 
stituted inquisitors-general, with all the necessary authority, 
on both sides of the Alps, to try all causes of heresy, with 
the poAver of arresting and imprisoning suspected persons 
and their abettors, of whatever estate, rank, or order, of nom- 
inating officers under them, and of appointing inferior affili- 
ated tribunals, of equal or inferior power, in all places. 

It is true that this tribunal commenced its operations only 
in the ecclesiastical states. But although its introduction 
into other parts of Italy was more or less opposed, yet it was 
soon organized every where. In Venice, the government 
insisted upon the condition that a certain number of magis- 
trates and lawyers should be present at the examination of 
accused persons, and that a definitive sentence should not be 
pronounced, at least, in the case of the laity, without having 
been first submitted to the senate. In Tuscany, too, there 
was some limitation to its power ; though of but little conse- 
quence. Every where else its operation was unlimited ; and 
such was its efficiency that in a period of twenty years it 
almost worked the extirpation of the Reformed doctrine in 
aU Italy. It is true, also, that Francesco Burlamacchi and 
others, of Lucca, set on foot a conspiracy to overthrow the 
tyrannies which existed in Italy, and, by the cooperation 
of the friends of the new opinions and of liberty, to reestab- 
lish republican governments. But the attempt wholly failed. 

As soon as the Inquisition, thus remodelled, was erected 
throughout Italy, those who had avowed sentiments favorable 
to the Reformed opinions, and by so doing had exposed them- 
selves to its vengeance, fled in great numbers. The prisons 
of the Inquisition were filled with the suspected persons who 
remained. The open profession of the Protestant Faith 



PERSECUTION IN MODENA. 91 

ceased, except in a few places. Many persons suffered 
death; others remained a long time in prison. Still the 
friends of the Reformation were numerous, and for more 
than twenty years, they held their meetings in private houses, 
and continued to encourage and edify one another, notwith- 
standing all the activity of the Inquisitors. 

IV. Persecution in Modena. 

Modena, at the time of which we write, was within the 
dominions of the Duke of Ferrara. It has already been 
stated that there was a strong leaven of Reformed doctrine 
in the academy of that city, which Pope Paul III. and his 
successors, Pius III., Marcellus II., and especially Paul lY., 
labored, for years, to extirpate. As Ercole, Duke of Fer- 
rara, was a bigoted Catholic, and willing to be the merest 
tool of the pope, the academicians and others in Modena 
who had received the new opinions, were exposed to great 
hazards. In 1542, it was proposed in the Vatican to cite 
some of the most influential persons among them to Rome ; 
but this was opposed by Cardinal Sadoleti, who wrote very 
kind letters to Castelvetro and others at Modena, who had 
adopted the Protestant doctrines. Cardinal Morone, also, 
employed his best offices to prevent the difficulty which was 
about to rise. At length, cardinals Sadoleti and Cortese 
went to Modena to meet the bishop of that city, and try to 
effect a reconciliation. Through their exertions, a formulary 
of doctrines, drawn up with singular moderation, by Contarini, 
at Morone's request, was reluctantly subscribed by the sus- 
pected academicians. But this arrangement produced little 
good. 

In the year 1543, two monks, Bartolomeo della Pergala 
and Pontremolo, were arrested and condemned at Modena, 
for preaching heretical doctrines ; and, in 1545, the persecu- 
tion against the academicians was renewed. An attempt 



92 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

was made to seize Filippo Valentino, a young man of great 
genius ; ^ but lie escaped. Soon after the academy was dis- 
solved by tlie voluntary dispersion of its members, who fled 
to avoid the persecution which had been set on foot, and to 
the promotion of wliich the Duke of Ferrara had so readily 
lent his aid. The next year Castelvetro, Filippo Valentino, 
Bonifacio Valentino, and Gadaldino, a bookseller, were cited 
to appear before the Inquisition at Eome. The first two 
refused to go, and were excommunicated. The last two were 
detained in prison more than a year. Castelvetro lived a 
while in Ferrara, in retirement. But in 1559, he was in- 
duced by the new duke, Alfonso II., who had just mounted 
the throne, to go to Eome and stand his trial. He went, and 
after remaining there several months, and undergoing several 
interrogations, he escaped with his brother Giammaria. On 
the 26th of November, 1560, they were publicly excommu- 
nicated, as fugitives and incorrigible heretics. ^ 

V. The Reformed Doctrine extirpated at Ferrara. 

Nor was the storm slow in reaching Ferrara. In 1545, 
the pope exhorted the ecclesiastical authorities of that city to 
great diligence in investigating the sentiments of those who 
were suspected qf heresy, and, having brought their inquiries 
to a definite judgment, to transmit the same to Rome. Spies 
were, about this time, sent forth into all parts of Italy, who 
insinuated themselves into the acquaintance and company of 
all classes, and transferred to the Vatican the information 

41 The attainments of Filippo Valentino were indeed prodigious, if the account of 
him given by Castelvetro be true — namely, that at the age of seven he wrote letters 
worthy, as to style, of Cicero himself. It is said, also, that he could repeat dis- 
courses, verbatim, which he had heard but once, and had the principal Latin and 
Italian poets by heart. 

42 One of the greatest charges brought against Castelvetro, was that of his having 
translated into Italian the celebrated work of Melancthon, on the Authority of the 
Church and Fathers, 



EXTIRPATED AT FERRARA. 93 

which they collected. By this means many excellent persons 
were entrapped in Ferrara. Upon the death of Paul III., 
Cardinal De Monte ascended the papal throne, under the 
name of Julius III. He was a man of a persecuting as well 
as voluptuous spirit. In 1550, the Reformed church, which 
had existed for a number of years at Ferrara, was dispersed ; 
many of its members were thrown into prison, and one of 
their preachers, a man of great piety, was put to death. 

The Duchess Renee did all she could to shield the little 
flock of the faithful against these cruel proceedings. But her 
influence at Ferrara was fast departing. Her husband, who 
was incapable of appreciating either her noble character, or 
the elevated motives from which she acted, in adhering to 
the Protestant faith, did all that he could to induce her to 
return to the Roman Catholic Church — instigated and urged 
on by the pope. Failing to accomplish this by persuasion, 
he resorted to harsh measures. He had long ceased to mani- 
fest any regard for her person, and had given himself up to a 
life of criminal and most shameful neglect of his duties as a 
husband. 

The influence of her family was brought to bear upon her, 
to turn her away from the Truth. Her nephew, Henry II., 
King of France, sent the Inquisitor Oritz, whp had been with 
him some time as his confessor, to Ferrara, with instructions 
to labor for the recovei*y of his ^ only aunt ' to the Roman 
Catholic Church, and, if arguments failed, to cause all neces- 
sary severity to be employed to effect the object. But all 
his efforts were to no purpose. The daughter of Louis XIL 
was neither to be persuaded nor frightened into an abandon- 
ment of what she conscientiously believed to be the true 
gospel. One indignity after another was heaped upon her 
by her husband. Those of her attendants who were sus- 
pected of participating in the new opinions were sent away. 



94 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

Even her children ^ were at length forbidden to approach 
her. Her intimate friend, the instructress and companion of 
her daughter Anne, the devoted Olympia Morata, had, some 
time previous to this, been compelled to leave the palace, 
upon the death of her father, to take care of her mother and 
the younger branches of her family, and had become exposed 
to much harsh treatment from the court. From this she was 
relieved by her marriage with Dr. Gunthler, a German 
medical student, who took her into Germany upon his return 
to that country. 

But neither the bad treatment of her husband, nor the 
sophistry and persuasion of the Inquisitor Oritz, ^ availed to 
cause the Duchess to return to the fold of Eome ; though it 
would seem that, for the sake of her children, she at last 
made some unimportant concessions. 

In the year 1558 died Ercole, Duke of Ferrara. His 
character has been sufficiently exhibited in the few sentences 
in which we have spoken of him. Notwithstanding his im- 
moralities, he was honored by Paul IV. with the title of 
Defender of the Church. His zeal for Eome was still fur- 
ther rewarded by the dethronement of his grandson, and the 
amiexation of the dukedom of Ferrara to the Estates of the 
Church, to which it remains united to this day. 

43 She had five children ; two sons, Alfonso, who became Duke of Ferrara, — 
celebrated as the patron and afterwards the enemy of Torquato Tasso, — Louis, 
Cardinal d'Este, and three daughters ; Anne, who married first Francis of Lorraine, 
called the Duke of Guise, and afterwards the Duke of Savoy ; Lucretia, Duchess 
of Urbino, and the Princess Elenora, who died unmarried. It was for her that poor 
Tasso entertained so strong a passion, and which has been considered the cause of 
the misfortunes which overshadowed and imbittered the latter part of his life. 

44 This Oritz seems to have grown more firm and skilful as he grew older. 
Beza, in his History of the Ref. Churches of France (torn. 1. p. 20.), speaks of him as 
having been sent to Sancerre in search of heretics, in the year 1534 ; but the inhab- 
itants, knowing his fondness for good cheer, treated him with so much hospitality, 
that he reported them to be most excellent people! Dr. M'Crie rightly observes, 
that Monsieur Oritz was then young and had not yet tastedj^lood. 



EXTIRPATED AT FERRARA. 95 

Upon the death of her husband Ercole, the Duchess Eenee 
left Ferrara and returned to France, where her nephew, 
Henry II., was still on the throne, and took up her abode at 
the Castle of Montargis, a femaU and ancient city, some forty 
miles southeast of Paris. There she spent the remainder of 
her life. There she made an open profession of the Protest- 
ant religion ; and during the sixteen years which she lived 
after her return from Italy, she devoted all her energies and 
her resources to the succor of the poor persecuted Protest- 
ants of her native land. In doing this she had, of course, to 
encounter all the hatred of the fanatical priest-party of the 
kingdom, headed by the Guises, one of whom, as we have 
already stated, was the husband of her daughter Anne. In 
the year 1560, Francis II., a mere youth, without experi- 
ence, and wholly under the domination of a faction of bigots, 
who had succeeded his father, Henry H., commenced the 
persecution of the Protestants on an extensive scale. The 
houses of those whose names were on the lists of the pro- 
scribed were pillaged and torn down, and many persons were 
put to death. The Prince of Conde, a distinguished Protest- 
ant, was cast into prison at Orleans, and his sister-in-law, the 
Countess of Koye, was thrown into that of St. Germain-en- 
Laye. Renee hastened to Orleans to save Conde. Meeting 
the Duke of Guise, her son-in-law, she upbraided him with 
his perfidy, and boldly said, that, ' if she had been there she 
would have prevented what had been done ; whoever gave 
the king such advice has deceived him; this wound will 
bleed a long time hereafter, and so much the more as no one 
has ever become fond of shedding the blood of France, with- 
out finding evil in so doing.' 

Not long afterwards, the Duke of Guise sent an armed 
force, under the conduct of Jean de Souches-Malicorne to 
Montargis, to cause the Duchess Penee to deliver up the un- 
fortunate Protestants who had taken refuge in that place. 



96 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

In the onset, a number of these people were killed, their 
houses were burned, and then razed to the ground. The 
Duchess retired to the Castle, into which all fled that could. 
De Souches threatened to advance his cannon, and batter the 
fortress to the ground. But he received this bold answer 
from the courageous Renee : ' Consider well what you do ; 
know that no one has the right to command me but the king 
himself; and that, if you come hither, I will be the first to 
mount the breach, where I shall see if you have the audacity 
to kill the daughter of a king, who desires only to protect her 
subjects, and whose death heaven and earth will be bound to 
avenge upon you and all your line, even to your children who 
are in their cradles.' This noble answer, when reported to 
the Duke of Guise, had the effect to arrest his threats. A 
short time after, he fell by the hand of a fanatical Protest- 
ant of the name of Poltrot. This event plunged the Duch- 
ess into the deepest grief. She deplored the civil war which 
had been kindled by the determination of the Roman Catho- 
lics, headed by the government, to destroy by force the new 
sect, whose only crime was, that they held to a religion 
founded on the gospel, which inculcated the practice of good 
works instead of vain superstitions, and taught men to rely 
for salvation upon the merits and intercession of a glorious 
and only Saviour. This religion she desired to see propa- 
gated by reason and persuasion, and not by force. But, alas, 
those were not the times in which the voice of humanity was 
likely to be heard. And all that this excellent woman could 
do was to exert herself in favor of the Protestants and their 
pastors as far as her influence could shield them. She main- 
tained a constant correspondence with the chief men among 
them, until her death, which occurred at Montargis on the 
12th of June, 1575. To the last she was a consistent and 
devoted Protestant ; and ever gave proof, in her abhorrence 
of Rome, that she was a worthy daughter of him who caused 



PEBSECUTION RAGES IN VENICE. 97 

to be inscribed on the medal which was struck on the occasion 
of the Council of Lyons — the Council which proclaimed the 
liberties of the Galilean Church — Destruam Bahylonem. *^ 

The memory of this excellent princess is revered by the 
Protestants of France, to this day, and with good reason ; for 
she was an ornament to the religion which they profess.^ 
Her daughter Anne, who had enjoyed in her youth the ex- 
cellent instructions and the admirable example of Olympia 
Morata, was the only one of her children that resembled her, 
either in vigor of intellect or goodness of heart. And, 
although she never openly professed the Protestant Faith, it 
is certain that she was well disposed in relation to it, and 
exerted all her influence to moderate the violence of her two 
bigoted husbands, against its friends. Condorcet, De Thou, 
Eiccio, Paleario, Calcagni, and other French and Italian 
authors have spoken in the highest terms of this amiable 
princess. ^ 

VI. Persecution rages in Venice and its Territories. 

For awhile the senate of Venice was evidently unwilling 
to lend its influence and aid in the work of extirpating her- 
esy. But at length the importunity of Pome prevailed. 
The commencement of this cruel work was made at Vicenza, 
and the Reformed church, which had existed there for sev- 
eral years, was, in the year 1547, dispersed. The year fol- 
lowing, the senate ordered all who possessed books which 
contained any thing contrary to the Roman Catholic Faith 
to deliver them up within eight days, or be proceeded against, 
upon information given, as heretics. This was followed by 

45 I will destroy Babylon — meaning Rome. 

46 For an interesting memoir of the Duchess Renee, the reader is referred to 
the Musee des Protestans Celebres, torn. ii. pp. 172—198. 

47 In the published works of Olympia Morata, there is a beautiful letter address- 
ed to 'AnnaB Estensi, Principi Guisianae,' 

9 



98 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

great severities against the Protestants, not only in Venice, 
but in all its territories. Many were seized, of whom some 
were sent to the galleys, others condemned to perpetual im- 
prisonment, and some, through fear of punishment, were 
induced to recant. The excellent Altieri, who was one of the 
most steadfast friends of the truth in Venice, gives affecting 
accounts in his letters to BuUinger, and other Protestants in 
Switzerland, of the state of things around him. At length, 
even he, highly esteemed as he was by the senate, and agent 
as he had been for the Protestant princes in Germany, was 
compelled to quit Venice or renounce his religion. He chose 
the former alternative, and after wandering about with his 
wife and child, — one while staying at Ferrara, then at Bo- 
logna, then at Florence — he at length retired to some place 
near Brescia, where he wrote to BuUinger a letter, in which 
are these words : ' Know that I am in great trouble, and 
danger of my life ; nor is there a place in Italy where I can 
be safe with my wife and boy. My fears for myself increase 
daily, for I know the wicked will never rest till they have 
swallowed me up alive. I entreat a share in your prayers.' 
This is the last intelligence that was ever heard of that ex- 
cellent man. Rome, in all probability, accomplished his 
death by some means or other. 

The Protestants of Istria suffered greatly through the ac- 
tivity and cruelty of the Inquisitor, Annibale Grisone, who 
was sent from Rome to extirpate heresy in that region. 
Dreadful scenes of distress took place in the beautiful penin- 
sula of Capo dTstria. The two Vergerii, both of whom were 
bishops, one of Capo dTstria, and the other of Pola, were the 
special objects of the papal vengeance. The latter died sud- 
denly, not without suspicion of having been carried off by 
poison ; the former left his diocese, and, after having wander- 
ed about for some time, and even visited the Council of Trent, 



PERSECUTION RAGES IN VENICE. 99 

in which body he had a right to a seat, he found himself 
compelled to take refuge in the Grisons. 

Notwithstanding all that was done to eradicate the Prot- 
estant religion in Venice, there continued to be a considerable 
remnant, who faithfully adhered to it. Even in the year 
1560, those who followed that Faith met regularly in a private 
house for the worship of God, and called a minister to organ- 
ize them into a church, and administer the Lord's Supper to 
them. And though these were soon afterwards dispersed by 
persecution, that city was not wholly rid of Protestants in 
the seventeenth century. 

For a long time the senate resisted the application of cap- 
ital punishment to those who were convicted by the Inquisi- 
tion of holding the new doctrines. But at length it yielded 
this point, also. How many suffered death in that city and 
its territories we have no means of knowing. The mode of 
putting them to death was by drowning. And though this 
was less barbarous than that of burning, yet circumstances 
sufficiently horrible were not wanting. The prisoner was 
taken from his cell at the hour of midnight, and placed in a 
gondola, as the small and swiftly gliding boat of Venice is 
called, with no other attendants than the rowers, and a priest 
to act as a confessor. After being carried out into the outer 
harbor, another boat approached, and came alongside. The 
prisoner was laid on a plank, whose ends rested on the two 
boats. His hands were tied, and a heavy stone was attached 
to his feet. A signal being given, the boats separated, and 
the victim was plunged into the deep, to rise no more " till 
the sea gives up her dead." 

The first person who suffered martyrdom in the city of 
Venice, ' — though several had been previously put to death 
in the territories of that Republic, — was Giulio Guirlanda. 
He sank into the deep, calling upon the Lord Jesus. He was 
in the fortieth year of his age. His death occurred on the 



100 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

19th October, 15G2. Antonio Eicetto, a most honorable man, 
was the next. Great efforts were made by the senate to 
induce him to recant. The intreaties of his little son were 
employed to move him ; but all in vain. In the gondola he 
was firm, prayed for those who put him to death, and com- 
mended his soul to his Saviour. He was drowned on the 
15th February, 1566. Francesco Spinula followed ; he was 
drowned ten days after E-icetto. But the most distinguished 
of all the martyrs of Venice was Fra Baldo Lupetino. He 
was of a noble and ancient family, became a monk, and rose 
to a high rank in his Order. After having proclaimed the 
gospel in various places, in Italy and out of it, both in the 
Italian and Sclavonian languages, he was thrown into prison 
by the Inquisitor and the pope's legate. There he lay almost 
twenty years. On the one hand, the Protestant German 
princes interceded with the senate for his life ; on the other, 
the pope and his Inquisitor and legate demanded his death ■— 
which he met with great firmness, and in peace. 

There is reason to believe that many others suffered death 
in Venice, of whose names history makes no mention. Be- 
sides these, many died in prison, or of diseases contracted 
during long confinement there. And great numbers escaped 
to other lands. 

VII. Protestants driven from Locarno. 

The existence of a Protestant church at Locarno, a small 
city on Lake Maggiore, and, as we have stated, within the 
limits of Italy, but under the government of the Cantons of 
Switzerland, was a subject of much regret and annoyance to 
the pope. Nothing was left unattempted in order to remove 
what was considered so great an evil. The first and most 
natural means of effecting this, was to excite dissensions and 
feuds between the Catholics and Protestants in the city. As 
the latter were but a small minority, it was no difficult matter 



PROTESTANTS DRIVEN FROM LOCARNO. 101 

to render tlieir position uncomfortable in the extreme, through 
the annoyance which they suffered from their Eoman Cath- 
olic neighbors, under a government which took part with the 
oppressor against the oppressed. Several years of these 
intestine troubles and persecutions passed on, during which, 
the excellent Beccaria was compelled, in order to find peace, 
to quit Locarno and retire to Chievenna in the Grisons. 

But another and bolder measure was adopted by Eome. 
Riverda, Bishop of Terracina, was sent by the pope to the 
Diet of Switzerland, to excite that body to command the 
Protestants of Locarno to abandon that city. The district 
including it, as well as several other small districts in its vi- 
cinity, was governed by the Swiss Cantons, who, in rotation, 
sent a prefect or governor to this province, who held his office 
for two years. As the Roman Catholic cantons were then, 
as now, more numerous than the Protestants — though far 
inferior in population, education, wealth, and all other re- 
sources — the vote by cantons was certain to be unfavorable 
to the cause of the Protestants in Locarno. The question 
was referred, at last, to arbiters chosen from the two cantons 
in which the two parties are nearly equally divided. Their 
decision was every thing that the pope's legate could desire, 
namely, that the inhabitants of Locarno should either embrace 
the Eoman Catholic religion, or leave their native land, 
taking with them their families and property; that they 
should not return thither, nor settle within the seven Catho- 
lic cantons ; and that those who had spoken reproachfully of 
the Virgin Mary, or held opinions contrary to both confes- 
sions, should be punished. It was determined, also, that the 
decisions of the Diet should be carried into effect by the 
deputies sent from the seven Eoman Catholic cantons, if 
those from the four Protestant ones refused to take part in 
the matter. 

9* 



102 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

In consequence of this decision, on the part of the Diet, 
the deputies of the seven Catholic cantons hastened to 
Locarno, and called upon the prefect and magistrates to carry 
it into immediate effect. Dreadful was the distress which 
ensued. Those who were favorable to the new opinions 
were cited to appear in a public meeting, and declare before 
the deputies of the cantons, whether they were ready to 
abandon their faith, or not. ' We will live in it, we will die 
in it,' ' We will never renounce it,' ' it is the only true 
faith,' — * it is the only holy faith,' were the answers which 
were uttered by the little band of men, women, and children, 
who had decided to adhere to the gospel. About two hun- 
dred persons gave up their names, as confessors of the truth 
as it is in Jesus. They were a company of brave people, 
who, for the love of Christ, were willing to forsake all. In 
vain did they ask permission to remain till the severity of 
winter was past. They were sternly told that they must de- 
part immediately. The infamous Riverda, the pope's nuncio, 
now arrived from Switzerland, to see the decree of the Diet 
carried literally into effect. He soon had the audacity to 
demand that the exiles should surrender both their property 
and their children ! But the deputies, whilst they consented 
to the former, refused to accede to the latter. Not content 
with what he had accomplished, he set about, in his self- 
sufficiency, laboring to convert these faithful followers of the 
Lamb to the senseless services of Rome. But he toiled in 
vain. All his arguments were promptly and effectually an- 
swered. Among those whom he was most anxious to convert, 
and by whom he was most triumphantly confuted, were three 
distinguished ladies, Catarina Rosalina, Lucia di Crello, and 
Barbara di Montalto, who were all zealous Protestants. The 
last named, by the keenness of her replies, and severity of 
her retorts, greatly provoked the nuncio. He therefore de- 



PROTESTANTS DRIVEN FROM LOCARNO. 103 

termined to have her arrested ; but she hastily descended by 
a stairway which led down from her house — which was situ- 
ated on the bank of Lake Maggiore — into a boat, and 
escaped from the hands of her enemies. A poor tradesman, 
of the name of Nicolas, was not so fortunate. He was tried 
for having spoken disrespectfully of the Virgin Mary, put to 
the torture, and afterwards underwent the sentence of death. 

On the 3d of March, 1555, the little band of Protestants 
left Locarno for Switzerland. As they could not pass 
through the territory of Milan, they were compelled to pur- 
sue a northeastern route, along Lake Maggiore, to its upper 
end ; thence they advanced to Kogoreto, a town subject to 
the Grison league. There they rested during two months, 
inasmuch as the Alps presented an impassable barrier of ice 
and snow. In the month of May, they were enabled to pro- 
ceed to the Canton of the Grisons, w here they received a 
joyful welcome from brethren of the same faith. Nearly 
one half of their number accepted the invitation of the 
magistrates to become citizens of that mountainous, but to 
them, happy republic. The remainder, amounting to one 
hundred and thirty-three, went forward, as the summer ad- 
vanced, to Zurich, whose inhabitants came out in mass to 
meet them at their approach, and gave them a most grateful 
reception. 

Short was the exultation of the Locamese upon the ex- 
pulsion of the Protestants. They lost the most industrious 
and peaceable of their inhabitants. Trade declined, and 
with it the prosperity of their city. A violent tempest, and 
a destructive pestilence soon followed. And, to fill up the 
cup of their misery, intestine commotions and feuds arrayed 
the people in hostile parties, by which the peace of the city 
was destroyed. 



104 SUPPRESSION OP THE REFORMATION. 

YJLLl. Persecutions in Milan^ Mantua^ and Cremona. 

In no part of Italy did persecution rage more than in tlie 
Duclij of Milan, especially after it fell into the hands of 
Phillip II., king of Spain. The first martyr there was a 
young nobleman of Lodi, of the name of Galeazzo Trezio, 
who had imbibed the evangelical doctrine through the preach- 
ing of Maynardi, an Augustinian monk, and was confirmed 
in the same by Curio, during his sojourn at Pavia. Falling 
into the hands of the Inquisition, in the year 1551, he was 
condemned to be burned alive. This dreadful punishment 
he underwent with great fortitude. But the horrible state of 
things in that Duchy reached its acme wliilst the infamous 
Duke of Alva was governor of it. In the year 1558, two 
persons were committed alive to the flames. One of them, 
a monk, was forced into a sort of pulpit placed near the 
stake, in order that he might make his recantation. But 
instead of doing this, he seized the occasion to announce the 
gospel with boldness ; and whilst doing so was driven into 
the fire with blows and curses. The year following, scarcely 
a week passed without some one being made to suffer as a 
heretic. In the year 1563, eleven citizens of rank were 
thrown into prison. In 1569, a young priest was executed 
with horrible barbarity. He was condemned to be dragged at 
the tail of a horse to a gibbet, and there hung. The former 
part of the sentence was dispensed with at the intercession 
of his friends. But when, after being half strangled, he was 
taken down, and still refused to recant, he was literally roast- 
ed, and his body thrown to the dogs. ^ 

At Mantua, too, the Inquisitors prosecuted their mission of 
extirpating heresy with the utmost boldness. The then 
reigning duke was a man of great humanily, and had a be- 



48 For a full account of these shocking transactions, the reader is referred to De 
Porta's Historiaj etc., torn. ii. pp. 294—296, 486—488. 



DISPERSION OF THE CHURCH AT LUCCA. 105 

coming sense of what was due to himself as a ruler, and of 
the rights of his people. He gave great offence to the pope, 
by refusing to send to Rome for trial certain persons sus- 
pected of heresy. The pope not only threatened him with 
interdiction, but war also. And he would have executed his 
threats, had it not been for the interference of the princes of 
Italy, who persuaded him to pardon the duke on his submis- 
sion. Nothino; could exceed the arroojance of the chief 
Inquisitor at Mantua. Having seized a friend of the duke 
and thrown him into prison, he rejected, with unbounded 
insolence, the duke's request that he might be liberated, de- 
claring that his master, the pope, was paramount to any 
secular prince. 

As for Cremona, the Inquisition, according to the testimo- 
nies of Romish historians, was worked with uncommon energy 
and success in that city and its territories. The same thing 
may be said of Parma, whose duke entered into a treaty 
with that truculent pope, Paul IV., by which he surrendered 
the properties and lives of his subjects to the Inquisition. 
At Faenza, a nobleman of distinguished virtues having fallen 
under the suspicion of favoring the ' Lutheran doctrine,' 
was thrown into a noisome prison, where he was detained a 
long time. He was afterwards subjected to the torture. 
The Inquisitors not being able to extort from him what they 
hoped, ordered the operation to be repeated, during which, 
the prisoner expired in their hands. The report of this 
barbarous deed excited such a tumult in the city, that the 
house of the Inquisition was torn down, and some of the 
priests were trodden to death by the enraged multitude. 

IX. Dispersion of the ^Reformed Church at Lucca. 

In no city in Italy did the Reformed church embrace 
more distinguished families than in Lucca. They had for 
years assembled, in a public mannier, for the worship of God, 



106 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

after the mode of the Protestants. ABd they enjoyed a 
longer impunity than did their brethren in most other places. 
This led to a vain-glorious spirit and false security. But at 
length, upon the accession of Paul IV. to the papal see, the 
storm fell upon them. At the onset, the professors of the 
Reformed doctrine in that city did not act in a manner cor- 
responding to the expectations which had been formed of 
them. At the sight of the instruments of torture,, many of 
those who had almost openly blamed Martyr for having left 
Italy to seek a refuge in Switzerland, found their hearts to 
fail. They now blamed themselves for not having escaped 
from the country whilst it was possible to do so. But many 
succeeded at length in leaving Italy. In the year 1556, 
some of the best families in Lucca reached Geneva, where 
their descendants are to be found at this day. Among them 
were the Micheli, Turretini, Calendrini, Balbani, Diodati, 
Burlamacchi, and Minutoli, some of whom have attained 
great distinction, in both Church and State, in that ancient 
commonwealth. The authorities of Lucca were so enraged 
at this emigration, that they offered a reward of three hun- 
dred crowns to any person who would kill any of them in 
Italy, France, or Flanders ! The Council of Geneva wrote, 
but in vain, to them, to revoke this barbarous proclamation — 
which, however, had no other effect than to put the refugees 
in fear for their lives. 

It is a curious fact, that, in the year 1679, more than one 
hundred years after the time of which we are writing, Car- 
dinal Spinola, then Bishop of Lucca, addressed a letter to 
the descendants of these Lucchese Protestants at Geneva, 
affectionately inviting them to return to the beloved bosom of 
the Mother Church, promising them absolution and a cordial 
welcome. But his hopes were disappointed. They sent him 
a respectful and able answer, which was written by the pas- 
tors Burlamacchi and Turretini, worthy grandsons of those 



PERSECUTION AT FLORENCE. 107 

sires who had forsaken Italy for Christ. After giving a 
sketch of the progress which the Eeformed doctrine had 
made in Lucca in the preceding century, they examined the 
propositions contained in the cardinal's letter, pronounced 
them inadmissible, and concluded with an earnest and affec- 
tionate appeal to their " kinsmen according to the flesh," who 
were still groping in the darkness of popish Lucca. The 
pope ordered all the copies of this letter which came into 
Italy to be burnt. 

X. Persecution at Florence and other places in Tuscany, 

As early as the year 1547, a law was proclaimed at Flor- 
ence requiring all who possessed heretical books, particularly 
those written by Ochino and Martyr, to deliver them up 
within fifteen days, under a penalty of a hundred ducats and 
ten years' confinement in the galleys. After the establish- 
ment of the Inquisition, more decisive measures were adopted 
to extirpate the heresy which was lurking in that city, so 
renowned for its literature, its science, and its refinement. 
Processions of the penitents, or those who recanted, conducted 
in a most imposing manner, were witnessed in the streets ; 
and heretical books were burned with vast ceremony. Ludo- 
vico Domenichi, a man of learning, who had published a 
translation of ' Xenophon,' was condemned to the galleys for 
ten years, under the charge of having translated into Italian, 
and published, the Nicodemiana of Calvin. These severi- 
ties were increased at a subsequent period, when Pius Y. 
altered the constitution of the Inquisition in Tuscany, by 
dispensing with the three commissaries of the State, and 
assigning the whole work to one Inquisitor, as being more 
simple and convenient. This change, which boded any thing 
else than good to the people, together with the facility with 
which Cosmo delivered up to the pope the excellent Car- 
nesecchi, of whom we shall speak more fully hereafter, spread 



108 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

dismay tliroughout tlie citj. Many fled ; others were sent to 
Rome. The Inquisitor worked with great diligence. All 
who visited Germany and Switzerland, were exposed to 
a rigorous examination and surveillance. 

These proceedings drove many distinguished men from 
Tuscany to foreign parts. Among these we may mention 
Michael Angelo Florio, a popular preacher in his own 
country, and who became pastor of a Protestant church, first 
among the Grisons, and afterwards at London ; ^^ Nardi, so 
distinguished in Italian literature; Pietro Gelido, who had 
served the Duke as secretary at the court of France, and 
resident agent at Venice, and who ultimately settled at 
Geneva ; and Antonio Albizio, who belonged to one of the 
noblest families, and having become acquainted with the 
gospel by reading the Scriptures, retired into Suabia, where 
he divided his time between devotional exercises and literary 
studies, until his death in 1626. 

At Sienna, which about this time became annexed to the 
Duchy of Tuscany, to which it still belongs, similar proceed- 
ings took place. The defection of Ochino, the Soccini, and 
Paleario from the Roman faith, led the Inquisitors to be 
exceedingly diligent in ferreting out heresy. In the year 
1567, the persecution became much severer, and many fled; 
Others were subjected to trial on the spot, and not a few were 
sent to Rome. 

XI. Persecution at Naples* 

The Spanish government endeavored for several years to 
introduce the Inquisition, as it existed in Spain, into Naples ; 
but was compelled to yield to the repugnance of the people, 
apparently sustained by the pope. These dissensions for 

49 He wrote a life of Lady Jane Grey, entitled: Historia della Vita e della morte 
de VUlustriss. Signora Giovanna Graia^ gia Regina eletta e puhlicata d^Inghilterraj 
etc. 



PERSECUTION AT NAPLES. 109 

awhile saved the Protestants from open persecution. At 
length one of their number, Lorenzo Romano, a native of 
Sicily, who had been in Germany and imbibed the Reformed 
doctrine there, and attemiited to propagate it at Caserta, in 
the vicinity of Naples, was arrested, and through fear not 
only recanted, but betrayed many of the most distinguished 
of his brethren. This led to much distress. Many were 
thrown into prison, and not a few were sent to Rome, to 
undergo death by being burned. These severities continued 
for several years. On the 24th of March, 1564, two noble- 
men, Giovanni Francesco d' Alois, of Caserta, and Giovanni 
Bernardino di Gargano, of Aversa, having been convicted of 
heresy, were beheaded in the market-place, and their bodies 
consumed to ashes in the sight of the people.^ Such a 
disastrous effect did persecution have upon the prosperity of 
Naples, that commerce and trade declined to such a degree 
that whole streets were deserted. 

The Protestant cause suffered much at Naples by the dis- 
semination of Arian and other errors. The spirit of specula- 
tion had the effect of diverting men's minds from the simple 
gospel. And when the true source of spiritual life is aban- 
doned, sooner or later even the form of religion will dis- 
appear. Many in Naples who were favorable to the 
Reformed doctrine, endeavored to maintain it secretly, whilst 
openly they frequented the Roman Catholic churches, par- 
took of the mass, and conducted themselves in every respect 
as if they were Catholics. This conduct was calculated to 
destroy all true decision of character, all courage in the cause 
and service of the Saviour, and all proper sensibility of con- 
science. Even many of these persons, being suspected of 
holding the evangelical faith, were arrested, and had to pur- 
chase their lives by denying their convictions. Some af 

50 Giannone, Histoire Civile de Naples^ b. xxxii., Chap. V. sect. 11. 

10 



110 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

them were not so fortunate, or unfortunate, rather, as to 
escape even in this manner. 

To avoid these persecutions, many set out with a determi- 
nation to abandon forever their native land. And whilst 
some of them, certainly, persevered in this resolution, many 
others, it is said, upon reaching the Alps, and looking back 
from their summits upon the beautiful country which they 
had left, had not the courage to go farther. Like Lot's wife, 
they turned back, and most of them, upon their return to 
Naples, were thrown into prison ; and, having submitted to do 
penance, passed the rest of their lives, shunned by all good 
men, and rendered miserable by a feehng of remorse and 
self-degradation. 

XII. Destruction of the Waldenses in Calabria, 

And now the last, the fatal day for these devoted people 
drew near. We have stated that this colony was planted in 
the fourteenth century, by emigrants chiefly from the valley 
of Pragela in Piedmont. They brought with them little 
except the simple piety which their fathers had maintained 
from the primitive ages of Christianity. They asked for 
lands in Calabria, and obtained them in the neighborhood of 
Cosenza.^ For two hundred years they cultivated the 
ground in peace, living on good terms with their Roman 
Catholic neighbors. It is true, that for awhile the priests 
were disposed to give them trouble, because they neither 
came to the mass nor to the confessional, but held meetings 
of their own, in their private houses. But the proprietors of 
the lands on which they had settled, finding them peaceable 
and industrious people, and punctual in paying their rents, 
protected them from molestation. And even the priests 



61 In Calabria Citeriore, about the middle of the ' foot,' as the southwestern part 
of the Italian peninsula is called. 



sa L i iL^J Ki 



WALDENSES IN CALABRIA. Ill 

themselves, finding that these excellent people were exem- 
plary in rendering the tithes, and in meeting all the other 
claims of the Church, soon ceased to trouble them. We 
regret to say that in the lapse of time, there is reason to 
believe that these good people lost in some degree, that just 
abhorrence of some of the doctrines and services of the 
Roman Catholic Church, which their fathers entertained. 
For, at the commencement of the Eeformation in Germany 
and Switzerland, they were in the habit of attending mass in 
the Romish Churches, but they had not relinquished their own 
private meetings. As they had few schools, and no facilities 
for educating their pastors, they had to look for ministers of 
the gospel to the churches which held the same faith in the 
valleys of Piedmont. As there was often no little hazard in 
passing from the land of the Waldenses, at least, for those 
who held their religious doctrines, and who went forth to 
spread them, the Waldensian churches in Calabria were fre- 
quently, and for considerable periods, very poorly supplied 
with pastors. Indeed, there is reason to believe that they 
were sometimes entirely destitute of spiritual leaders. 

What must have been the joy, then, of these people, to hear 
of the progress of a religion which was so like that of their 
forefathers, and which had always been held among them- 
selves ? As the Truth made progress in Italy, it waked up a 
new spirit among this branch of the Waldensian church. 
Feeling the need of more ministers of the gospel, they applied 
to the valleys in Piedmont and to Geneva for pastors, or, at 
least, for the visits of faithful spiritual guides. Nor was 
their application in vain. Faithful missionaries came and 
labored with much zeal to revive the spirit of true piety 
among them. Great success attended their labors. Not 
content with spreading the Truth among the colonies of those 
of the same faith, they labored to propagate it in the neigh- 
boring towns, in the province of Basilicata. 



112 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

But at length Rome roused herself, like a lioness greedy 
for the prey. Her emissaries, the Inquisitors, whilst travers- 
ing the rest of Italy, would not be likely to pass by the 
villages occupied by these inoffensive people. They had 
already tasted blood, and their nerves had become capable of 
enduring distressing scenes. And when the determination 
was taken at Rome to suppress the Waldensian churches in 
Calabria, Yalerio Malvicino, and Alfonso Urbino, two monks, 
who have won for themselves an immortal infamy, set off 
with alacrity from the Eternal City, on the bloody errand. 
Their manner, at first, was gentle and kind. But their 
attempts to persuade the inhabitants of Santo Sisto, one of 
the two chief places occupied by these people, to return to 
the mass, utterly failed. Sooner than do this, they retired in 
a body to the forests, leaving behmd them only a few aged 
persons and children. Such was the result of the first move- 
ment at Santo Sisto. 

Stratagem triumphed at La Guardia, the other consider- 
able place occupied by these people, and which stands on the 
seashore. Arriving at this place sooner than the intelli- 
gence of their proceedings at Santa Sisto, they told the 
people that their brethren of that place had complied with 
their demands. Deceived by these statements, and intimi- 
dated by the probable consequences of refusal, the people of 
this place went to the Catholic Church and partook of the 
mass. When they had learned the true state of the case, 
they were filled with indignation, and with difiiculty re- 
strained by Salvatore Spinello, the feudatory superior of 
the town, from joining their brethren who had taken refuge 
in the woods. In the mean while the work of death was com- 
menced among the latter. The monks had brought up two 
companies of soldiers, to hunt these poor people like beasts of 
prey. Having discovered their retreat, they fell upon them, 
with cries of Ammazzi ! ammazzi I ' Murder them ! murder 



PERSECUTION IN CALABRIA. 113 

them ! ' Many were slain on the spot. But some escaped to 
a mountain, and there begged the captain who was sent 
against them to spare this effusion of blood, and they would 
quit the country to go whithersoever they might be command- 
ed to retire. This offer being rejected, and they driven to des- 
peration, they made such a brave resistance that their enemies 
were defeated with great slaughter. This was the signal for 
the destruction of the whole colony. Several companies of 
soldiers were ordered from Naples to the murderous scene ; 
and even the viceroy followed in person, to see that the 
bloody work should be effectually done. 

What need is there of words ? Santo Sisto was delivered 
up to fire and sword ! Hordes of handitti^ or outlaws, were 
encouraged by a proclamation of pardon for all such as came 
to help the military hunt the poor, wretched Waldenses, who 
were forced to take refuge in the mountains. Tracking them 
to their retreats, they killed most of them. Some, however, 
escaped to the summits, where they nearly all died of hunger. 
Such was the fate of Santo Sisto. But worse things, if pos- 
sible, remained for the inhabitants of La Guardia. Whilst the 
military were butchering the flying inhabitants of Santo Sisto, 
the Inquisitors went to La Guardia, and with a show of kind- 
ness induced many of the inhabitants to come out to meet 
them in conference. But no sooner had they made their 
appearance than seventy of them were seized, and conducted 
in chains to the neighboring village of Montalto. There they 
were subjected to the ^question' or torture, to induce them 
both to renounce their faith and to accuse themselves and 
their brethren of having committed, in their religious assem- 
blies, the odious crimes imputed to them by their enemies. 
To accomplish this, some of them were made to endure the 
most dreadful agonies. Stefano Carlino was tortured until 
his bowels gushed out. Another, named Verminello, under- 
went awful suffering for eight hours, on a horrid instrument, 
10* 



114 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

called the hell. Still lie persisted in denying the calumnies 
charged upon him. A person of the name of Marzone, was 
stripped naked, beaten with iron rods, dragged through the 
streets, and then knocked down with blows from torches. 
One of his sons was thrown headlong, by order of the Inquis- 
itors, from the top of a tower, because he would not embrace 
a crucifix that was presented to him, and thus renounce his 
own religion for that of Rome. Bernardino Conte, when on 
the way to the stake, threw away a crucifix that was forced 
into his hands, and, for doing this, was conveyed to Cozenza, 
where he was covered over with pitch, and burned, in the 
presence of a vast multitude of people. The treatment of 
the women was such as cannot with propriety be described. 
Demons could not have behaved worse than did the Inquisi- 
tors and their myrmidons. Sixty tender females were put to 
the torture, the greater part of whom died in prison, in con- 
sequence of their wounds remaining undressed. 

But still the colony was not entirely extirpated at this 
time (1558) ; the final blow came two years later, under the 
government of the Marquis of Buccianici. A great number 
of people were seized and brought to Montalto, where occur- 
red the shocking scenes described in a letter from a Roman 
Catholic servant, who was an eyewitness, to his master, As- 
canio Caraccioli, and published in Italy with other documents 
relating to this affair. We give the principal part of it : — 

' Most illustrious Sir — Having written you from time to 
time what has been done here in the affair of heresy, I have 
now to inform you of the dreadful justice which began to be 
executed on these Lutherans early this morning, being the 
11th of June. And, to tell you the truth, I can compare it 
to nothing but the slaughter of so many sheep. They were 
all shut up in one house, as in a sheepfold. The executioner 
went, and bringing out one of them, covered his face with a 
napkin, or henda, as we call it, led him out to a field near the 



EXECUTIONS AT SANTO SISTO. 115 

house, and causing him to kneel down, cut his throat with a 
knife. Then, taking off the bloody napkin, he went and 
brought out another, whpm he put to death after the same 
manner. In this way the whole number, amounting to eighty- 
eight men, were butchered. I leave you to figure to yourself 
the lamentable spectacle, for I can scarcely refrain from tears 
while I write ; nor was there any person, who, after witness- 
ing the execution of one, could stand to look on a second. 
The meekness and patience with which they went to martyr- 
dom and death are incredible. Some of them at their death 
professed themselves of the same faith with us, but the great- 
er part died in their accursed obstinacy. All the old men 
met their death with cheerfulness, but the young exhibited 
symptoms of fear. I still shudder while I think of the 
executioner, with the bloody knife in his teeth, the dripping 
napkin in his hand, and his arms besmeared with gore, going 
to the house, and taking out one victim after another, just as 
the butcher does the sheep which he means to kill. Accord- 
ing to orders, wagons are already come to carry away the dead 
bodies, which are appointed to be quartered, and hung up on 
the public roads from one end of Calabria to the other. Unless 
his Holiness and the Viceroy of Naples command the Mar- 
quis of Buccianici, the governor of this province, to stay his 
hand and leave off, he will go on to put others to the torture, 
and multiply the executions until he has destroyed the whole. 
Even to-day, a decree has passed, that one hundred grown 
up women shall be put to the question, and afterwards 
executed ; in order that there may be a complete mixture, 
and we may be able to say, in well sounding language, that 
so many persons were punished, partly men and partly 
women. This is all that I have to say of this act of justice. 
It is now eight o'clock, and I shall presently hear accounts 
of what was said by these obstinate people, as they were led 
to execution. Some have testified such obstinacy and stub- 



116 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

bornness as to refuse to look on a crucifix, or confess to a 
priest ; and they are to be burned alive. The heretics taken 
in Calabria amount to sixteen hundred, all of whom are con- 
demned ; but only eighty-eight have as yet been put to death. 
This people came originally from the valley of Angrogna, ^^ 
near Savoy, and in Calabria are called Ultramontani. Four 
other places in the kingdom of Naples are inhabited by the 
same race, but I do not know that they behave ill ; for they 
are a simple, unlettered people, entirely occupied with the 
spade and plough, and, I am told, show themselves sufficiently 
religious at the hour of death.' ^ 

Should the reader doubt the simple statement given by an 
intelligent servant, let him take what follows, quoted from a 
Neapolitan historian of that age, and who is not likely to 
have exaggerated any thing that relates to the treatment of 
these poor people. After giving some account of these 
* heretics,' as he considered them to be, he adds: — 'Some 
had their throats cut, others were sawn through the middle, 
and others thrown from the top of a high cliff; all were 
cruelly but deservedly put to death. It was strange to hear 
of their obstinacy ; for while the father saw his son put to 
death, and the son his father, they not only exhibited no 
symptoms of grief, but said joyfully, that they would be 
angels of God; so much had the devil, to whom they had 
given themselves up as a prey, deceived them.' ^ 

The remaining portion of the history of the Waldensian 
Colony in Calabria, may be told in few words. When their 

52 This is a mistake ; they came originally from the adjoining valley of Pragela, 
though it is possible that they received some accessions from Angrogna, on account 
of its crowded population. All the valleys inhabited by the Waldenses werej at 
that lime, under the government of Savoy. 

53 Pantaleon, Rerum in Eccles. Gest. Hist. f. 337, 338. De Porta, torn. ii. p- 309, 
312, — quoted by Dr. McCrie, in his Hist, of the Reformation in Italy, pp. 251, 252. 

54 Tommaso Costo, Seconda Parte del Compendia delV Istoria di Napoli, p. 257,-* 
quoted by Dr. McCrie, in liis Hist, of the Reformation in Italy, pp. 252, 253. 



PERSECUTION IN THE POPE's DOMINIONS. 117 

persecutors were satiated with blood, it was not difficult to 
dispose of the rest of the prisoners. The men were sent to 
the Spanish galleys ; the women and children were sold for 
slaves. And with the exception of a few who renounced 
their religion, this whole colony, which at the commencement 
of the sixteenth century comprised a population of four 
thousand souls, was exterminated.^^ 

XIII. Persecution in the Pope's Dominions. 

If the Inquisition was less used and less terrible in Italy 
than in Spain, it was because the pope's influence over the 
secular governments was greater in the former than in the 
latter, and to a great degree superseded the necessity of 
having an antagonistic ecclesiastical power, the equal if not 
rival of the civil. Most of all was this true of the ^ Estates 
of the Church,' or that portion of Italy in which the popes 
were temporal sovereigns as well as supreme in spiritual 
affairs. There, there was little need of the Inquisition, for 
the secular and spiritual powers coincided in will and 
purpose, for they were in the same hands. Nevertheless, 
the Inquisition was established in Rome, as well as through- 
out all Italy, though it was, probably, more mild there in 
its operations than in some other parts. When, in obedience 
to its decisions, men were put to death, it was done with 
fewer circumstances calculated to strike the imaginations of 
the masses than in Spain. The convicts went singly, or in 
small numbers at a time, to the stake. They were commonly 
strangled before they were burned. Sometimes instead of 
being burned, they were drowned, as in Venice. 

Many Protestants were thrown into the prisons of Eome 
by Pope Paul III., and were executed by Julius HI. But 
Paul IV. far exceeded his predecessor in his love of blood. 

55 Perrin, Hist, of the Waldenses, pp. 206, 207. 



118 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

During the few years of his pontificate the Inquisition spread 
alarm every where. Princes and princesses, clergy and laity, 
bishops, priests, and friars, entire academies, the Sacred 
College, and even the ' holy office ' itself, fell under suspicion 
in respect to heresy. Cardinals Morone and Pole, Foscarari, 
Bishop of Modena, Luighi Priuli, and other persons of emi- 
nence, were prosecuted as heretics. It was at last found 
necessary to introduce laymen into the holy office, because so 
many of the Inquisitors themselves were believed by the 
pope to be tainted with heresy. ^^ Such was the fanatical 
zeal of this infallible dotard that, when on his dying bed, he 
even sent for some of the cardinals, and recommended the 
Inquisition to their earnest support ! As soon as the news of 
his death spread in Rome, the populace assembled in mass, 
and having hberated the prisoners, burned the house of the 
Inquisition to the ground, broke the statue down which Paul 
IV. had erected to himself, and threw the pieces into the 
Tiber. 

Although Pius IV., who succeeded, was of a mild dispo- 
sition, he was unable to conti*ol Cardinal Michele Ghisleri, 
president of the Inquisition. In his time the Waldenses in 
Calabria were, as we have just related, persecuted to extinc- 
tion. The Inquisition was reopened in a house beyond the 
Tiber, fitted up with cells, and was commonly called the 
^ Lutheran prison.' In this prison Philip Camerarius was 
confined for two months, and was only liberated through the 
interference of the ambassador of the Emperor of Germany 
and the threats of retaliation made by the Protestant princes 
of that country. Pompeio di Monti, a pious Neapolitan 
nobleman, shared the same room in the Inquisition with him. 
They prayed and conversed together respecting the things 



SQ Bernini, Istoria di tutte Pheresia, secolo XVI. cap. VII. Puigblanch's Hist, of 
the Inquisition^ i. 61, 62. 



PERSECUTION IN THE POPE's DOMINIONS. 119 

pertaining to salvation. They read together a Latin Bible, 
which the nobleman had procured, and which he kept con- 
cealed in his bed. The year following, Di Monti was sen- 
tenced to be burned ahve. But his friends advancing seven 
thousand crowns for the purpose of gaining a commutation of 
this sentence, he was strangled, and his body afterwards com- 
mitted to the flames. ^'^ 

Under Pius V., the infamous Ghisleri, spoken of above, 
who ascended the pontifical throne in 1566, persecution raged 
again in the papal states. At Bologna several persons of 
distinction were burned alive, and others sent to Kome. 
Many of the students from Germany were imprisoned or 
compelled to fly. In the year 1568, one who then resided 
on the borders of Italy, wrote as follows : — ^ At Rome some 
are every day burned, hanged, or beheaded. A distinguished 
person, named Carnesecchi, formerly ambassador to the Duke 
of Tuscany, has been committed to the flames. Two persons 
of still greater distinction. Baron Bernardo di Angole, and 
Count di Petigliano, a genuine and brave Eoman, are in 
prison. After long resistance, they were at last induced to 
recant, on a promise that they should be set at hberty. But 
what was the consequence ? The one was condenmed to pay 
a fine of eighty thousand crowns, and to suffer perpetual 
imprisonment ; the other to pay one thousand crowns, and be 
confined for life in the convent of the Jesuits. Thus have 
they, by a dishonorable defection, purchased a life worse than 
death.' ^ Speaking of the rigor of the Inquisition in Italy, 
and the suddenness of executions at this period, Muretus said 
to De Thou : — ' We know not what becomes of people here : 
I am terrified every morning when I rise, lest I should be 

57 Eelatio de Captivitate Romana Philippi Camerarii et Petri Rieteri, p. 7 — 30, 
54 — 64'; as quoted in Dr. McCrie's Hist, of the Reformation in Italy, pp. 256, 257. 

58 Tobias Eglinus ad Bidlingerum, 2 Mart. 1568, — quoted in Dr. McCrie's Hist, of 
the Reformation in Italy, pp. 257, 258. 



120 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

told that such and such a one is no more ; and, if it should be 
SO, we durst not say a word.' ^^ 

But the despotism of the popes was beginning to wane. 
Bold as was Pius V., he did not dare to refuse to surrender 
Galeas de San Severino, Count of Caiazzo, a favorite of 
Charles IX. of France (whom he had thrown into the prison 
of the Inquisition at Rome as a Huguenot), when demanded 
by the Marquis de Pisano, in the name of his master. He 
gave him up, however, very reluctantly, saying that the king 
had sent him an imbriacone, or drunken fool. It was this 
same nobleman who, when ordered by Sixtus Y. to quit his 
territories within eight days, replied : — ' Your territories are 
not so large but that I can quit them within twenty-four 
hours.' ^ 

XYI. Notices of the most distinguished of the Italian 

MoMyrs, 

According to Scaliger, a person of the name of Jacobini, 
was the first Protestant martyr in Italy. But Cugas denies 
that he was a Protestant, and affirms that he only differed 
from the Roman Church in some things, and adds that, in 
those days, Hhey burned men for a small matter.' Others 
assert that Faventino Fannio, a native of Faenza, a town in 
the States of the Church, was the first who suffered death 
for the Protestant Faith in that country. But this is a point 
which is not worth the trouble of an investigation. Whether 
the first martyr or not, it is certain that Faventino Fannio, 
who became acquainted with the Truth by reading the Scrip- 
tures and other religious books in his native tongue, became 
very active in its propagation. He went from place to 



59 Thuana, Collect, des Maiseaux ^ \om. i. p. 16, — quoted by Dr. McCrie in his 
History of the Reformation in Italy, p, 258. 

60 Thuana, Collect, des Maiseaux, torn. i. pp. 3, 4, and 5, — quoted in Dr. McCrie's 
History of the Reformation in Italy, p. 259, 



DISTINGUISHED MARTYRS. 121 

place, in the province of Eomagna, instructing in each, a 
few persons in the gospel, and enjoining upon them to com- 
municate to others the knowledge Avhich they had acquired* 
He was arrested bv the Inquisitors, and, through fear, recant- 
ed once. But having attained more knowledge of the grace 
of God, and greater strength in the principles of the gospel, 
he labored with all diligence till he was arrested a second 
time, and thrown into prison at Ferrara. There he was vis- 
ited by Olympia Morata, by Lavinia della Rovere, and other 
persons of distinction, who were greatly edified by his con- 
versation and prayers. During his imprisonment, which 
lasted two years, he was the instrument of great spiritual 
good, both to the numerous visitors who called upon him and 
to his fellow-prisoners. He also occupied much of his time in 
writing letters and meditations on religious subjects, which 
were circulated among his friends, and some of which were 
published after his death. In the year 1550, Pope Julius III. 
gave orders for his execution. He was first strangled and 
then burned. 

About the same time and in the same manner did Domen^ 
ico Casablanca suffer death. He was a native of Bassano, a 
city in the Venetian territories. He became acquainted 
with the truth whilst a soldier in Germany, in the armies of 
Charles V. After his return he endeavored to make known 
the gospel wherever he went. But he was soon arrested, 
thrown into prison at Piacenza, and, refusing to recant, re- 
ceived the crown of martyrdom in his thirtieth year. ^^ 

Among the Italian martyrs and reformers, Mollio, the 
Bologna professor, ranks deservedly high. For several years 

61 The reader will find much respecting- these two martyrs in the Opera Olympia 
Moratasj pp. 90, 102, 107, Histoire des JMartyrs^ b, 186, 187, and 487. And above all,, 
in the work of Francesco Nigro, of Bassano, entitled : De Fannii Faventiniac Dom- 
inici Bassanensis morte, qui nuper oh Christum in Italia Romani Pontijicis jiissu im^ 
pie occisi sunt, hrevis historia. 

11 



122 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

after the flight of Oehino and Martyr, he was greatly ex- 
posed, and, in fact, was more than once arrested and thrown 
into prison, from which he was, however, enabled to escape. 
But at last he was seized at Eavenna, shortly after the acces- 
sion of Pope Julius III., and carried to Rome. There he 
was cited to appear before the six Inquisitors and their epis- 
copal assessors, at a public meeting of the holy office. Be- 
fore this dread tribunal a number of prisoners were made to 
appear, with torches in their hands, all of whom recanted 
and did penance, except MoUio and one Tisserano, a native 
of Peragio. Being allowed to defend himself, Mollio spoke 
with great ability on the subjects of justification by faith, the 
merit of good works, auricular confession, and the sacraments. 
He pronounced the power claimed by the pope and his clergy 
to be unchristian, and denounced, in the severest terms, their 
avarice, their tyranny, and their other vices. ' As for you, 
cardinals and bishops,' said he, ' if I were satisfied that you 
had justly obtained that power which you assume to your- 
selves, and that you had risen to eminence by virtuous deeds, 
and not by blind ambition and the arts of profligacy, I would 
not say a word to you. But since I know, on the best 
grounds, that you have set moderation, and modesty, and 
honor, and virtue at defiance, I am constrained to treat you 
without ceremony, and to declare that your power is not of 
God, but of the devil. If it were apostolical, as you would 
make the poor world believe, then your manner of life would 
resemble that of the apostles. But when I perceive the 
filth, and falsehood, and profaneness with which it is over- 
spread, what can I think or say of your church, but that it is 
a receptacle of thieves and a den of robbers ? What is your 
doctrine but a dream — a lie forged by hypocrites ? Your 
very countenances proclaim that your belly is your god. 
Your great object is to seize and amass wealth by every 
species of injustice and cruelty. You thirst without ceasing 



DISTINGUISHED MARTYRS. 123 

for the blood of the saints. Can you be the successors of 
the holy apostles, and vicars of Jesus Christ — you, who 
despise Christ and his Word ; you, who act as if you did not 
believe that there is a God in heaven ; you, who persecute 
unto the death his faithful ministers, make his command- 
ments of no effect, and tyrannize over the consciences of his 
saints ? Wherefore I appeal from your sentence, and sum- 
mon you, cruel tyrants and murderers, to answer before the 
judgment-seat of Christ at the last day, where your pompous 
titles and gorgeous trappings will not dazzle, nor your guards 
and torturing apparatus terrify us. And in testimony of this, 
take back that which you have given me.' ^^ So saying, he 
threw the torch whidi he held in his hand on the ground and 
extinguished it. It will be readily supposed that this with- 
ering invective, however it may have appalled them at first, 
made the Inquisitors gnash upon MoUio and his companion, 
who approved of the testimony which he had borne. They 
therefore lost no time in ordering them to execution. They 
were accordingly conveyed to the place called the Campo 
de Fieri, where they underwent death, with the most pious 
fortitude. 

Pomponio Algieri, a native of Nola, but at the time of his 
arrest a student at the University of Padua, was one of the 
most interesting of aU the Italian martyrs. His answers 
when examined before the chief civil mao^istrate of Padua 



62 Histoire des Martyrs^ f. 264, 265. Gerdesii, Ital. Reform, p. 104 — quoted in Dr. 
McCrie's Hist, of the Reformation in Italy, pp. 262, 263. Zanchi, in writing to Bull- 
inger, says of this Mollio ; 'I will relate what Mollio di Montalcino, the monk 
who was afterwards burned at Rome for the gospel, once said to me respecting 
your book, De Origine Erroris. As I had not read or seen the work at that time, he 
exhorted me to purchase it; " and," said he, " if you have not money, pluck out your 
right eye to enable you to buy it, and read it with the left." By the favor of Provi- 
dence, I soon after found the book, without losing my eye ; for I bought it for a 
crown, and abridged it in such a character as that not even an Inquisitor could read 
it ; and in such a form, that, if he did read it he could not have discovered what 
my sentiments were.' Zanchii EpistolcB, lib. ii. p. 278. 



124 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

were remarkable for clear views of truth on tlie great points 
at issue in the controversy between the Protestants and 
Romanists, and contain an able refutation of the errors held 
by the latter. The senate of Venice wished greatly to save 
him ; but inasmuch as he utterly refused to abandon his sen- 
timents, they condemned him to the galleys. Not long after, 
to please the newly elected pope, Paul IV., they sent him 
to Rome, where he was sentenced to be burned alive, — 
which dreadful death he underwent with a magnanimity 
which made a great impression on the cardinals and others 
who were spectators of the scene. He died when in his 
twenty-fourth year. Whilst he was in prison in Venice he 
wrote a letter to a friend which describes the abundant con- 
solation by which he was sustained and cheered. ^ 

Similar constancy, supported by similar internal peace and 
joy, was displayed by Francesco Gamba, a native of Como, 
who, having visited Geneva, had become acquainted with the 
Protestants there, and on one occasion had partaken of the 
Lord's Supper with them. For this he was condemned, upon 
his return to his native city, to be burned. He resisted all 
the attempts of priests and friars to convert him from the 
Protestant Faith, and died in the blessed assurance of hope. 
His tongue was perforated by his enemies, to prevent his ad- 
dressing the people when he arrived at the place of execu- 
tion. Looking around upon the vast assembly, he waved his 
right hand, as a signal to a friend whom he recognized, to 
signify that his mind was full of peace. After having been 
strangled, his body was committed to the flames. 

Godfredo Varaglia, a native of Piedmont, was a dis- 
tinguished preacher of the Order of Capuchins. In his 
younger years he was sent into the valleys of the Waldenses 
to labor for their conversion ; but he soon became a convert 

63 This letter is to be found in Pantaleon's Rerum in Eccles. Gest. part. ii. app. 
329—332. 



DISTINGUISHED MARTYRS. 125 

to their Faith, and began to preach it with zeal. Not long 
after the defection of Ochino, who belonged, as has been 
already stated, to the same Order, VaragUa and twelve 
others were arrested and sent to Rome. They managed, 
however, to gain an acquital, but were required to remain in 
Rome five years. In 1556, Varaglia went to France with 
his friend and patron, who was sent thither as an ambassador. 
His conscience giving him no rest, he went to Geneva, and 
openly professed the Protestant Faith. He was soon after- 
wards sent to preach the gospel among the Waldenses in the 
Valley of Angrogna. But he was soon apprehended, sent 
to Turin, and condemned to death, which he endured with 
great fortitude, on the 29th of March, 1558, in the fiftieth 
year of his age. 

Ludovico Paschali was also a Piedmontese, who imbibed a 
love for the gospel at Nice. Abandoning the army, he went 
to Lausanne to prepare himself by study, to preach the gos- 
pel. He and Stefano Negrino were selected to visit the 
Waldenses in Calabria, who had solicited spiritual teachers 
to be sent to them from the valleys in Piedmont, and from 
Switzerland. They had not been long in Calabria before 
they were both arrested and thrown into prison at Cosenza. 
Negrino was allowed to perish of hunger in prison ; but 
Paschali was dragged, first to Naples and then to Rome. On 
the way to the Eternal City, and after his arrival there, he 
was treated in the most barbarous and even brutal manner. 
His brother Bartolomeo, who had come from Cuni with let- 
ters of recommendation, to endeavor to procure his liberty 
or a mitigation of his sufiferings, found him in a most horrible 
state — his head bare, and his arms and hands lacerated by 
the small cords with Avhich he was bound. No entreaty 
could prevail on the Inquisitors to place him in circumstances 
of comfort. And yet he wrote to his former hearers in Cal- 
abria in the following strain : ' My state is this ; I feel my 
11* 



126 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

joy increase every day as I approach nearer to the hour in 
which I shall be offered as a sweet-smelling sacrifice to the 
Lord Jesus Christ, my faithful Saviour ; yea, so inexpressible 
is my joy, that I seem to myself to be free from captivity, 
and am prepared to die for Christ, not only once, but ten 
thousand times, if it were possible. Nevertheless, I perse- 
vere in imploring the divine assistance by prayer, for I am 
convinced that man is a miserable creature when left to him- 
self, and not upheld and directed by God.' To his brother, 
he said, shortly before his death : ' I give thanks to my God, 
that, in the midst of my long-continued and severe affliction, 
I have found some kind friends ; and I thank you, my dearest 
brother, for the tender interest you have taken in my welfare. 
But as for me, God has bestowed on me that knowledge of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, which assures me that I am not in 
error, and I know that I must go by the narrow way of the 
cross, and seal my testimony with my blood. I do not dread 
death, and still less the loss of my earthly goods ; for I am 
certain of eternal life and a celestial inheritance, and my 
heart is united to my Lord and Saviour.' ^ 

On the 9th of September, 1560, he was strangled and 
then burned in the court of the Castle of St. Angelo, in the 
presence of the pope and the cardinals, who had assembled 
to witness the spectacle. La a short address which he made 
when brought to the place of execution, he summoned, in the 
most solemn manner, the pope and cardinals to 'appear 
before the throne of the Lamb, and give an account of their 
cruelties.' ^ 

Perhaps the most illustrious of all the Italian martyrs, for 
natural talent and endowments, for noble person and manners, 
and for rich acquirements and liberal accomplishments, was 

64 Hist, des Martyrs., f. 506 — 516. Leger, Hist, des Eglises VaudoiseSypsiTt i. p. 204, 
quoted in Dr. McCrie's History of the Reformation in Italy^ pp. 266 — 269. 
05 Perrin's Hi-'story of the Ancient Christians inhabiting the AlpSj book i. chap. ix. 



DISTINGUISHED MARTYRS. 127 

Pietro Carnesecclii, a Florentine by birtli. Both Sadoleti 
and Bembo speak of him in the highest terms. He was the 
intimate friend of the Medici, and in consequence had great 
influence with Pope Clement YII., whose secretary and 
protonotary he was for several years. 

After the death of his patron and friend, Carnesecchi 
travelled much through Italy, visiting the learned and 
greatly enjoying their society. At Naples he became ac- 
quainted with Valdes, and from him imbibed a love for the 
Eeformed doctrines, which was greatly augmented by the 
reading of the Scriptures, meditation, and intercourse with 
several learned men, who held in reahty some of the most 
important of the new opinions ; such, for instance, as justifi- 
cation by faith. He was one of the select party which met 
at Cardinal Pole's house at Yiterbo, and spent the time in 
religious exercises. This was during the better days of that 
distinguished ecclesiastic. In his ' Letters,' he himself gives 
an interesting account of these meetings for edification. ^ 

After the flight of Ochino and Martyr, Carnesecchi was 
suspected of not only favoring heresy and its abettors, but of 
holding it himself. He was cited to appear at Rome, and 
underwent an examination. Paul III. was, however, his 
warm friend, and had the matter accommodated. But he 
deemed it prudent, after this, to leave Italy for a season. 
He therefore went into Savoy, and afterwards into France, 
where he was kindly and honorably received by Henry II., 
and his queen, Catharine de Medicis. In 1552, he returned to 
his native country, strongly confirmed in his opinions by his 
intercourse with foreign Protestants, and took up his residence 
mainly at Padua, within the Venetian territories. 

When Paul IV. came to the papal throne, Carnesecchi 
was summoned before the furious pontiff*; but failing to obey 

66 PoH Epistol<E, vol. iii. p. 42. 



128 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

he was excommunicated as a contumacious heretic, and de- 
livered over to the secular power to be punished as such. 
But before any thing was done, Pius IV. succeeded to the 
chair of St. Peter. Being a member of the family of the 
Medici, and a friend to Carnesecchi, he removed the sentence 
of excommunication, without exacting a recantation of any 
of his opinions. But when Pius V. ascended the throne, 
Carnesecchi felt his position to be exceedingly insecure, and 
therefore went to Florence, to seek protection under the 
shield of Cosmo, then Duke of Tuscany. But he was be- 
trayed by him, and being carried to Rome, was tried, before 
the Inquisition, on thirty-four articles, which comprehended 
all the peculiar doctrines of the Protestants, and condemned 
to suffer death. On the 3d of October, 1567, he was brought 
forth for punishment, and, being beheaded, his body was con- 
sumed by fire. He met death with confidence and joy, and 
went to the execution as to a triumph. 

The Eoman Catholic writers have but pursued their usual 
practice, in trying to defame Carnesecchi. Rome has never 
been willing to speak well of any whom she has pronounced 
heretics. But in this case they have had great difficulties to 
encounter, for Carnesecchi had become so celebrated for his 
talents, his learning, and his goodness of character before he 
became a Protestant, that it has been hard to erase his name 
from the list of great and good men in Italy. They have, 
however, expunged it out of almost every work in which he 
was mentioned with commendation before he had sepa- 
rated from Rome. 

One of the greatest ornaments of the Reformed cause in 
Italy was Aonio Paleario, or Antonio dalla Paglia, which 
was his original name. He resided for some time at Sienna ; 
thence he removed at the invitation of the senate to Lucca, 
where he taught the Latin classics for ten years. From 
Lucca he went to Milan, at the request of the authorities of 



DISTINGUISHED MARTYRS. 129 

that city, and spent seven years there as professor of elo- 
quence, handsomely supported and greatly honored. But in 
the year 1566, as he was deliberating about removing to 
Bologna, he fell a prey to the violent persecution which broke 
out at the accession of Pius Y., and which was fatal to so 
many learned and excellent men in Italy. He was arrested 
by Frate Angelo de Cremona, the Inquisitor, and sent to 
Rome, where he was kept in close confinement during three 
years. At length he w^as condemned to be hung and then 
burned. And this sentence was executed on the 3d of July, 
1570, when he was in his seventieth year. That he died 
firm in the faith, and supported by the blessed gospel, is 
made certain from the testimony of the most credible authors 
among the^omanists. ^^ 

It would seem that the principal charges against him were 
four ; namely, that he denied purgatory ; disapproved the 
burying of the dead in churches ; ridiculed the monastic Hfe ; 
and ascribed justification solely to confidence in the mercy of 
God, who will for Christ's sake forgive our sins. But it is 
probable that his intimacy with Ochino, and other leading 
men who held the Reformed opinions, his defence of himself 
before the senate of Sienna, and, above all, his book on the 
' Benefit of Christ's Death,' ^ had much weight against him 
in the deliberations of his judges. 

^ The most important of these is Laderciiius, in his Annates Ecclesice^ torn. xx. f. 
205. The speech of Paleario before his judges, as reported by this author, is an 
admirable one, and shows that he possessed the spirit of his Master. 

68 This treatise was eminently useful in diffusing evangelical doctrine in Italy upon 
a subject of vital importance. Forty thousand copies were sold in six years. It 
is said that Cardinal Pole had a share in writing it. Flaminio wrote in defence of 
it. And activity in circulating it, was one of the charges upon which Cardinal 
Morone was put in prison, and Carnesecchi consigned to the flames. Its title was: 
Trattato utilissimo del beneficio de Giesu Christo crucijisso^ verso i Christiani. Vene- 
tiis apud Bernardinum de Bindonis^ Anno Do. 1543. Paleario, before he was ar- 
rested, had taken care to place his writings in the hands of friends in whom he 
could confide. They have been often published in Protestant countries, and thus 
have escaped the mutilations which those of so many other Italian Protestants have 
suffered. 



130 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

It appears from Paleario's published letters, that he en- 
joyed the friendship and correspondence of the most cele- 
brated men of his time, both in the Church and the Republic 
of Letters. Among the former were cardinals Sadoleti, 
Bembo, Pole, Maifei, Badia, Filonardi, Sfondrati; and, 
among the latter, Flaminio, Riccio, Alciati, Vittorio, Lam- 
pridio, and Buonamici. His poem on the immortality of the 
soul, was received with great approbation by the learned. 
He was, indeed, a profound scholar. His 'Letter on the 
Council of Trent,' addressed to the Reformers, and his 
' Testimony and Plea against the Roman Pontiffs,' are ad- 
mirable works, and evince profound knowledge of the Scrip- 
tures and great soundness of judgment. 

Before leaving his cell for the place of execution he was 
permitted by his attendants to write two letters, one to his 
wife, the other to his two sons, Lampridio and Fedro. They 
are short, but affectionate, and display a mind sustained by 
pious fortitude, and well prepared for death. 

Several other excellent men suffered death about the same 
time; among whom was Bartolomeo Bartoccio, son of a 
wealthy citizen of Castello, a city in the Duchy of Spoletto. 
He had received some knowledge of the new opinions from 
Frabrizio Tommassi di Gubbio, a learned young gentleman 
who was his companion at the siege of Sienna, in the year 
1555. Upon his return home he labored with great zeal to 
convert his relations to the true Faith. All the efforts of his 
friends, as well as of his bishop, to reclaim him were in vain. 
Having been arrested and thrown into prison, he made his 
escape to Venice, and thence went to Geneva, where he mar- 
ried, and became a manufacturer of silk. In the year 1567, 
whilst on a visit to Genoa on business, he imprudently gave 
his true name to a merchant, and was apprehended by the 
Inquisition. The governments of Geneva and Berne inter- 
posed to save him. But the Republic of Genoa sent him to 



DISTINGUISHED MARTYRS. 131 

Kome, upon the requisition of the pope. After an imprison- 
ment of nearly two years, he was condemned to be burned 
alive. With a firm step he went to the place of execution ; 
and whilst the flames were enveloping his body, the words 
vittorial vittoria! — victory! victory I — were distinctly heard 
from his dying lips. ^^ 

During the remainder of the sixteenth century, the pris- 
ons of the Inquisition were filled with persons charged with 
holding heretical opinions. Some recanted and did penance, 
others were condemned to long imprisonment, andf some to 
worse sufferings. Nor were they all Italians that suffered thus. 
Foreigners were frequently arrested, and some were even put 
to death. Among the number were several Englishmen. One 
of whom was Dr. Thomas Wilson, afterwards secretary of 
Queen Elizabeth. Dr. Thomas Eeynolds was less fortunate. 
He died in prison of the wounds which he received by being 
subject to the torture called by the Italians, la tratta di corda^ 
and by the Spaniards, Vastrapado^ in the year 1566. In the 
year 1595, an Englishman was burned alive at Rome. Hav- 
ing indiscreetly snatched the host from the hand of the 
priest who was carrying it in the procession, his hand was 
cut off at the stake. Several other Englishmen are reported 
to have been thrown into prison at Rome about this time. 

But one of the most remarkable cases of imprisonment 
and escape, was that of John Craig, a Scotchman, who was 
born in the year 1512. '^^ He went to France in the year 
1537, and afterwards into Italy. He entered a monastery at 
Bologna, and attained to great consideration with his fellow 
monks. Having found a book written by Calvin in the 
library of the monastery, he read it with deep interest, and 
became convinced that the Church of Rome was not the true 

69 Histoire des Martyrs, f. 757, 758. 

70 He early lost his father, who was killed at the battle of Flodden. 



132 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

one. Soon afterwards he did not hesitate to impart his con- 
victions to the other monks, and for doing so, incurred immi- 
nent danger of losing his life ; and nothing but the kindness 
of another Scotch monk, who furnished him the means of 
escaping from the monastery, saved him. He then entered 
as a tutor into the house of a nobleman in that vicinity, who 
was favorable to the Reformed doctrine. But it was not 
long before both were accused of heresy, arrested by the 
agents of the Inquisition, and conducted to Home. After 
nine months of cruel imprisonment in a gloomy dungeon, 
Craig, adhering firmly to his religious convictions, was con- 
demned, with several others, to be burned alive. The day 
appointed for his execution was the 20th of August, 1559. 
But Pope Paul TV, dying on the 18th, and a great riot oc- 
curring thereupon, as we have already stated, Craig and his 
companions in misfortune escaped from prison, and left Rome 
as quickly as possible. They were speedily pursued and 
overtaken. Upon entering the house where Craig was, the 
captain of the band of pursuers looked him earnestly in the 
face, and then took him aside, and asked him if he did not 
remember his having once given succor to a wounded soldier 
in the environs of Bologna ? ' No,' replied Craig. ' But I 
remember it,' said the captain. ' I am the man to whom you 
gave the succor. God has given me an opportunity of re- 
quiting your kindness. You are at liberty. I ought to arrest 
your companions ; but for your sake I will do them all the 
good I can.' So saying, he gave to Craig all the money that 
he had, and also excellent advice respecting the means of 
escape. Craig took leave of him with a heart deeply touch- 
ed, and set out on his way. In great fear he pursued his 
journey to the north. At length he reached Vienna, where 
he preached before the archduke, who afterwards became 
Emperor of Germany, under the title of Maximilian II. 
The archduke was so much pleased with him, that he entreat- 



DESTRUCTION OF BOOKS. 133 

«d him to remain with him, but the importunity of the pope 
suffered it not ; he therefore sent him away, with a safe- 
conduct or passport. ^^ 

Craig arrived in Scotland in 1560. An absence of twenty- 
four years had caused him almost entirely to forget his ma- 
ternal tongue. At first he preached in Latin, for the benefit 
of those who knew that language. At the end of a short 
time he was able to preach in English, and eventually he 
became one of the most important of all John Knox^s fellow- 
laborers, and lived to draw up the National Covenant, in 
which Scotland solemnly abjured the popish religion. '^^ 

XV. Suppression and Destruction of Books, 

We bring the account of the suppression of the Keforma- 
tion in Italy to a close by taking a brief notice of the 
measures which the pope adopted to suppress and annihilate 
aU books which savored of heresy. Those who have not 
informed themselves on this subject have probably no con- 
ception of the extent to which this species of vandalism was 
carried. 

That most narrow-minded and bigoted monarch, Charles V. 
has the honor, or infamy rather, of being the author of the 
first Index Expurgatorius, In the year 1546, being desirous of 
arresting the progress of the new opinions in Flanders, he 
directed the theological faculty of the University of Louvain 
to draw up a catalogue of such books as ought not to be read 
by the people. Ten years later, this catalogue was by an 
imperial decree much enlarged. The pope did something of 
the same sort, but only with reference to his own temporal 
dominions. 

71 msl. de VEglise Chretienne, par Barth. Paris, 1843 ; pp. 284—286. 

72 Life of Enox, by the Rev. Dr. McCrie, vol. ii. p. 55. 

12 



134 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

But in 1550, Paul IV. resolved to frame a catalogue on 
tlie most rigid principles, and make its observance universal. 
This Index was arranged in three divisions. The first con- 
tained the names of authors whose whole works were inter- 
dicted. The second embraced the names of those authors 
some of whose works only were specified and forbidden. 
The third pointed out certain anonymous publications which 
were unlawful to be read. To the whole was added a Hst of 
more than sixty printers whose pubHcations were all forbid- 
den, no matter in what language they were printed, or what 
subject they treated. This was the origin and foundation of 
the famous Index Expurgatorius^ by which Rome has striven 
to reduce the world to the darkness of the middle ages. The 
condemned books were doomed to the flames ; and severe 
penalties were decreed against those who should neglect to 
give them up. 

The promulgation of this barbarous decree spread con- 
sternation throughout Italy; and nowhere more than in 
Tuscany, whose dukes, of the celebrated family of the Me- 
dici, had prided themselves on the patronage which they had 
afibrded to literature and literary men. Cosmo, who then 
occupied the ducal throne, pleaded for some restrictions upon 
the operation of the decree, in order to prevent the devasta- 
tion which it threatened. Venice temporized ; and Milan 
and Naples referred the matter to their lord, Philip II., who 
was then in Flanders. 

But notwithstanding the reluctance and hesitation mani- 
fested in certain quarters, the work of destroying heretical 
books commenced and went bravely on in all parts of Italy. 
All libraries, public and private, felt the expurgating process. 
An immense number of books were consumed. The trade 
of the printers and booksellers was ruined. The disastrous 
effects were felt not only at Venice, where so many books 



^iM 



SUPPKESSION OF BOOKS. 135 

had for a centuiy been published, but also at Lyons, at Ge- 
neva, at Zurich, at Basle, at Paris, at Leipsic, and at Frank- 
fort on the Maine. Not only were the books which had been 
written by Protestants, and by those who were suspected of 
favoring the new opinions, destroyed, but even those which 
contained any notes or scholia written by such persons. All 
the works of Erasmus, and also the editions of Cyprian, Je- 
rome, and Augustine, which he published, were condemned, 
because they were polluted with his critical annotations. 

Upon the death of Paul lY., a new Index was published 
by the Council of Trent, which was more select and discrim- 
inating. It included a great number of Protestant authors, 
but it omitted some popish ones, whose sentiments were so 
similar to those of the Protestants on certain points, that 
they had been put into the first Index, From this epoch 
commenced the barbarous practice of defacing and mutilat- 
ing those portions of certain works which were considered 
worthy of condemnation. This was sometimes done by be- 
smearing the heretical page with some black, adhesive sub- 
stance, which rendered it illegible. Sometimes the prohibited 
portions of a work were covered with prints taken from 
other works, so as to present a most wonderful appearance. 
Sometimes the condemned pages, or parts of pages, were 
wholly or partially torn out. 

These measures led to the destruction of a great number 
of books, and occasioned a vast public and private loss. In 
many cases, those who possessed prohibited books which 
they wished to keep, buried them for awhile under ground, 
or walled them up in their houses, till better times might 
arrive. It has often happened that in tearing down old 
houses in Italy, valuable books, prohibited in the Index, have 
come to light after lying concealed for a long time. For 
instance, in taking down an old house in Urbino, in the year 



136 SUPPRESSION OF THE REFORMATION. 

1728, a copy of Brucioli's paraphrases of tlie Epistles of St. 
Paul, was found with some of the writings of other Italian 
Reformers, which had lain in concealment more than a cen- 
tury and a half. ^^ 

73 Dr. McCrie's History of the Reformation in Italy ^ pp. 286 — 291. 



CHAPTER V. 

« 

DISPERSION OF THE ITALIAN PROTESTANTS, AND THE 
CHURCHES OF THE SAME WHICH WERE FORMED IN 
FOREIGN LANDS. 

Some account of the dispersion of the Italian Protestants, 
and of the churches formed by them in foreign lands, will 
constitute an appropriate sequel to what we have said in the 
preceding chapters. 

I. Italian Protestant Churches in the Grisons and their 

Dependencies, 

What is now called the Canton of the Grisons, formed no 
part of the Swiss confederacy until the year 1788. Before 
that time it had a government of its own, called the Grison 
League, for more than three hundred years. A few words 
respecting that country, its history, and its dependencies, may 
not be out of place before we enter upon the notices which 
we purpose to give respecting the churches which the Italian 
refugees, who had left their country for the sake of the Prot- 
estant religion, planted there. 

The Canton of the Grisons lies in the southeastern part of 
Switzerland, and was the Upper Rhaetia of the ancients. It 
is the largest canton in the Swiss confederacy. It embraces 
more than three thousand square miles, and contains nearly, 
if not quite, eighty thousand inhabitants. It is bounded on 
the north by the cantons of Glarus and St. Gall, on the east 
by the Tyrol, on the south by Austrian Italy, and the Canton 
of Ticino, and on the west by the Canton of Uri. - The surface 
12* 



138 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

of the country consists of high mountains separated by deep 
valleys. Some of the mountains have an elevation of eleven 
thousand feet above the level of the sea, along whose sides 
the line of perpetual snow is at the height of from eight 
thousand two hundred to eight thousand four hundred feet. 
There are no less than two hundred and forty-one glaciers in 
these mountains, and fifty-six cataracts. The Inn and the 
Ehine rise in this country, the one running away to the 
northeast, the other almost due north. Into each of these 
flow many branches, great and small. 

The population is chiefly grouped in villages, of which 
there are many. The most important city is Coire, in the 
northern part of the country, near the Rhine. But the most 
celebrated place in the entire canton is Disentis, in the 
western part, on a branch of the Rhine, and to the eastward 
of Mount St. Gothard. It is a small place, but famous for 
the old Benedictine monastery which existed there, and 
which, with its literary treasures and buildings, was destroyed 
by the French, in 1799. Ilanz, in the same valley, but 
further down that branch of the Rhine, is a considerable 
place, at which the diet or congress of the canton often meets. 
In the valley of the Inn, which is divided into two districts, 
called Upper and Lower Engadina, there is no town of 
much importance. The chief road from this whole country 
into Italy is that over the Splugen, celebrated for the sublime 
scenery through which it passes. 

The people of the Grisons are divided into three leagues : 
the League of God's House, whose capital is Coire; the 
Grey League, of which Ilanz is the capital ; and the League 
of the Ten Jurisdictions, of which Davos is the chief place. 
The Diet, composed of sixty-three deputies from all the 
Leagues, meets every year in the month of September, at 
these three capitals, in rotation ; deliberates on the affairs of 
the canton, and decides, as a court of ultimate appeal, in legal 



THE GRISONS. 139 

cases. The canton sends sixteen hundred men to the army 
of the confederacy, and contributes twelve thousand guilders 
annually to its support. , 

About two thirds of the inhabitants profess the Protestant 
religion. The pastors are generally very poor, and have to 
support themselves by their own industry. Very few of them 
are evangelical in doctrine, at present, and the state of religion 
is very low. The only Latin school is at Coire. About ten 
thousand of the inhabitants speak Italian ; they chiefly live 
in the valley of the Inn, in the eastern part of the canton. 
More than thirty thousand speak German ; and about thirty- 
five thousand speak the Romansh, or Ladin, which is a relic 
of the old Eomana Rustica. This language is spoken chiefly 
in the portions of the canton nearest to Italy, or the upper 
valleys. 

The lowest point in any of the valleys in this canton is 
three thousand two hundred and thirty-four feet above the 
sea ; and the highest village is situated at an elevation of Rve 
thousand six hundred feet. The variety of climate is, there- 
fore, very great in the lowest and highest valleys. In the 
latter the winters are long — from eight to nine months — 
and very dreary. 

The inhabitants of this secluded country raise grain in the 
more fertile valleys, and feed cattle in the summer months on 
the alps, or grassy spots on the sides and summits of the 
mountains. Their exports consist of cattle, cheese, coals, and 
rare minerals ; for which they receive grain, salt, cloth, etc. 
A large portion of their trade is with Milan, though a portion 
takes the direction of the Rhine and the Inn. 

The inhabitants of the Grisons are of mixed origin. A 
large portion of them are descended from the tribes found 
there by the Romans. After their conquest by that people, 
a considerable element of Latin population gradually entered 
into the country. In the middle ages the bishops of Coire 



140 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

and the monks of Disentis seem to have governed this for- 
bidding region. But the people growing tired of their des- 
potism and robbery, threw off the yoke in the course of the 
fifteenth century, and established their present government, 
in which the principle of democracy is carried about as far as 
it can be consistently with the maintenance of any authority 
at all. 

Not long after the Grison republic had gained its indepen- 
dence, it obtained a large accession to its territories by the 
acquisition of the Yalteline, and the counties of Chiavenna 
and Bormio, which lie south of the Grisons, (from which 
they are separated by the principal, or dividing, range of the 
Alps,) and between it and the Milanese and Venetian pos- 
sessions. 

The Yalteline ^* is a valley through which the river Adda 
flows, from east to west. Its length is about fifty miles, its 
width varies from ten to twenty. The upper, or eastern end 
of it was, whilst it belonged to the republic of the Grisons, 
called the county of Bormio. The whole valley is beautiful 
and fertile. It contains twelve hundred and seventy square 
miles, and about eighty thousand inhabitants. Chiavenna is 
a fine country bordering both banks of the Maira, a river 
which flows down from the north into the upper end of Lake 
Como, near the place where the Adda enters it from the east. 
So that whilst the Valteline lies directly south, the county 
of Chiavenna lies southwest of the Canton of the Grisons. 

We may remark, that, since the year 1797, the Valteline, 
and the counties of Bormio and Chiavenna, are no longer 
dependencies of the Grisons, but constituent parts of the 
Austrian possessions in Italy. These things premised, we 
now proceed to say a few words respecting the progress of 
the Beformation in the Grison republic and its dependencies, 
and the settlement of the Italian Protestants in its valleys. 

7i Called by the natives VaUe Tellina^ whence the name Valteline. 



THE GRISONS. 141 

The inhabitants of the Grisons received their first knowl- 
edge of the Reformed doctrine from Switzerland. In fact, 
Zuingle had scarcely entered upon his work as a Eeformer, 
before he received letters from Coire, first from a school- 
master, and then from a magistrate, encouraging him in his 
undertaking, and telling him that he had the sympathy of not 
a few persons in the Grisons, who were disgusted with the 
simony and other corruptions which prevailed in the Roman 
Catholic Church. I^Ior was it long before some of the rays 
of the pure gospel, which were beginning to beam upon 
Zurich, Berne, and other cantons in the northern and western 
parts of Switzerland began to penetrate even into the dark 
republic of the Grisons. And verily the darkness which 
covered that country was hke that of Egypt of old, ' a dark- 
ness that might be felt.' The masses could not read. A 
book had never been printed in the land. The most of the 
Catholic priests were ignorant and corrupt. The hierarchy 
bade defiance to the civil authorities. An ecclesiastic could 
seldom be punished for any ofience. Indeed, the monks and 
priests went armed through the country, like a set of military 
knights. Many of both, and especially of the latter, were 
foreigners, who were unacquainted with any one of the three 
languages — the German, the Italian, and the Romansh — 
spoken in the country. All they cared for was, to enjoy the 
best that the land afforded. As to the instruction of the 
people, many of whom were little above the brutes in point 
of intelligence, it scarcely seemed to enter their heads, as a 
matter in which they had any interest. There were, indeed, 
honorable exceptions to this representation, but they were 
few. 

But when the Reformation entered into the country, it 
soon created a stir among the ignorant drones, who, as monks 
and secular priests, infested the Church, and devoured the 
substance of the people. Even as early as 1524, the Diet, 



142 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

with the view of arresting the progress of the Eeformed doc- 
trine, enacted laws for the reformation of the clergy. Among 
other statutes which were adopted at a meeting of the Diet at 
Ilanz, the capital of the Grey League, was the following, 
' That the parish priests should instruct the people according 
to the Word of God ! ' This looked ominous of good. Much 
later the Diet decreed that the Eoman Catholic priests should 
recite the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, and the Ten 
Commandments, for the instruction of the people. 

As the Reformation advanced, the ignorance, stupidity, and 
wickedness of the priests became more manifest and strik- 
ing, through the contrast which the lives and preaching of 
Protestants presented to the minds of all. But our limits 
will not allow us to go into details. It must suffice to say 
that the glorious cause of Truth steadily advanced in the 
republic of the Grisons, notwithstanding the opposition pre- 
sented by the ignorance of the people, the malignity of the 
monks and the priests, and the timidity of the government. 
Among the men who were prominent in the work of reform- 
ing that country, were two, who deserve to be had in ever- 
lasting remembrance. They were Philip Salutz or Gallitz, 
who labored chiefly in th^ valley of the Lin, and John Dorf- 
man or Comander, who preached the gospel in the valley of 
the Rhine, and was pastor of a church at Coire. To these 
we may add John Frick, a priest of Mayenfield, who, being a 
most zealous Catholic, and having a great dread of the pro- 
gress of the Reformed doctrine in his country, went to Rome 
to implore assistance from the pope, and concert plans for the 
extirpation of heresy in the Grisons. But he became so 
much affected by the irreligion which he saw at Rome, as 
well as by the ignorance and vice which prevailed in Laly, 
that he returned home to join the Protestants, and labored 
till his dying day, with great zeal and success, to build up the 
faith which he once endeavored to destroy. Li his old age 



THE GBISONS. 143 

he used to say to his friends, that ' he learned the gospel at 
Rome.' 

Through various fortunes the cause of Truth passed ; but 
at length it gained a permanent foothold in the Grisons. ^^ 
Not only so, it spread also in their dependencies of the Yalte- 
line, and the counties of Bormio and Chiavenna. But its 
progress was slow in these ; for, being on the immediate bor- 
ders of Italy, and the people all speaking the Italian lan- 
guage, they were much more subject to those powerful 
influences which the pope knew so well how to wield 
through the neighboring prelates, especially the archbishop 
of Milan. 

The Protestant churches of the Grisons were organized 
after the manner of those in Switzerland, both as to doctrine 
and government. In the former, they sympathized with 
Zuingle and the other Swiss Reformers. As to the latter, 
each congregation had its consistory, or bench of ruling 
elders. At a later date, presbyteries were formed ; and ul- 
timately a synod embraced all the Protestant churches and 
ministers within the republic of the Grisons and its depen- 
dencies. The provision made by the government for the 
support of the ministers was small, and most of them had to 
struggle hard with poverty ; and, by the labor of their hands, 
or by teaching school, to eke out the necessary supplement 
to their salaries. Still, they encountered these hardships 
cheerfully. They labored not only to advance the interests 

75 As early as 1526, the Reformation may be said to have triumphed in the 
Grisons, for the Diet that year passed a number of ordinances, which show that the 
Truth had conquered the country. The people were allowed to choose their minis- 
ters, or priests, who were commanded to ' teach nothing to the people but what is 
contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.' Persons were for- 
bidden thenceforth to enter monasteries and convents ; the power of the Bishop of 
Coire was restricted to a spiritual jurisdiction. The most prominent promoters of 
the Reformation, among the laity, were John Guler and John Travers. The latter, 
in his old age, gave himself up very much to preaching. He resided in the upper 
part of the Valley of the Inn. 



144 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED, 

of religion, but also those of education. Schools sprang up 
in all the valleys ; the printing press was introduced ; and 
the Scriptures in whole or in part, and other religious books, 
began to be published. 

Such was the state of things when the first Protestant 
exiles from Italy arrived in the Grisons and their dependen- 
cies. As the Valteline and Chiavenna were nearest to Italy, 
and the people spoke Italian, it was natural that those who 
left the latter, for the sake of religion, should fly thither. 

The number of Italian Protestants who retired to the 
Grisons before the year 1542, was wholly insignificant. Af- 
ter that epoch, and especially after 1550, the number became 
great. And the current continued to set in that direction to 
the end of the sixteenth century, for heresy was not entirely 
extirpated in Italy, even then. The gloomy valleys of that 
mountainous country, with its rude winters, contrasted strange- 
ly with the sunny plains and the vine-clad hills of balmy 
Italy. But they afforded an asylum to the persecuted fol- 
lowers of Christ, who had been hunted, like beasts of the 
forest, in their native land. And there they could worship 
and serve God according to the dictates of their own con- 
sciences. This, to their eyes, was the greatest boon that 
earth can give. They therefore hailed these rugged moun- 
tains, with their snow-clad summits, — their glaciers, their 
frightful gorges, and their dreadful climate, — with delight, as 
furnishing them the repose which to their anxious minds and 
weary bodies had so long been denied. As to poverty, they 
cared little for it. They were ready to engage in any labor, 
however hard, by which they could earn a livelihood. They 
carried with them highly cultivated minds, and also hands 
that were willing to work. They were sure too, to meet with 
brethren, who, in the midst of all their poverty, were ready 
to receive them with open arms. They had forsaken all for 
Christ, but he had not forsaken them. How then could they 



i 



THE GRISONS. 145 

fail to be happy, even amid the Alps, in the blessed security 
which they there found ? And they were happy ; this their 
letters abundantly testify. They made the valleys echo and 
reecho the praises of Him, who had ' delivered them from 
the jaws of the lion,' and brought them to the refuge which 
His own hand had builded for them. 

On the other hand, the arrival of so many excellent people 
in the Grisons and their dependencies, was hailed with great 
j^y hy the Protestants of those countries. Many of these 
emigrants were persons of great distinction, whose names 
had long been familiar to the ears of the well-informed among 
these valleys. The presence of such, and indeed of all, who 
had forsaken country and all the endearments of home, for 
the cause of Christ, tended greatly to confirm those among 
whom they settled, or even sojourned for a season, in the 
truth of the glorious gospel. 

We have no means of ascertaining how many persons left 
Italy for the sake of religion during the period of which we 
are writing. ' It was calculated,' says Dr. McCrie, in his ad- 
mirable work on the Reformation in Italy, ' that in the year 
1550, the exiles amounted to two hundred, of whom a fourth 
or fifth part were men of letters, and these not of the mean- 
est name. Before the year 1559, the number had increased 
to eight hundred. From that time to the year 1568, we 
have ground to believe that the increase was fully as great in 
proportion. And down to the close of the century, individu- 
als were to be seen, after short intervals, flying to the north, 
and throwing themselves on the glaciers of the Alps, to escape 
the fires of the Inquisition. ^^ 

Most of the Italian Protestants who sought refuge in the 
Grisons and their dependencies, only remained there for a 



76 History of the Reformation in Italy, pp. 291 , 292. Vergerio, Letters al Vescovo di 
Lesina. Be Porta, torn. ii. p. 36, and Busdragi, JEpist. p. 322. 

13 



146 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

season. Many went afterwards into tlie Protestant cantons 
of Switzerland ; some went into France and Germany ; and 
some to the Netherlands and England. But several dis- 
tinguished men remained in the Grisons^ and the districts 
over which their rule extended, and spent the greater part, 
if not all, their lives there, after quitting their native land. 
About twenty Protestant churches were gathered in the Yal- 
teline, and the counties of Chiavenna and Bormio, which 
were all served for a long time, and most of them till the end 
of the sixteenth century, by exiles from Italy. Among those 
who labored in these countries at the time of which we write, 
may be mentioned as the most distinguished, Bartolomeo 
Maturo (who was probably the first of all the Protestant 
Italian preachers who took refuge in the Alps), Agostino 
Mainardi, Giulio da Milano, Beccaria, Paolo Gaddio, Zanchi, 
Scipione Lentulo, and Yergerio, formerly Bishop of Capo 
d'Istria. The latter was by no means confined to the country 
south of the Alps. He often made preaching tours into the 
republic of the Grisons, and into the Protestant cantons of 
Switzerland, and even into Germany. The distinguished 
Ludovico Castelvetro, Camillo, — a Sicilian, commonly called 
Penato, after he became a Protestant, — and Francesco 
Negri, of Bassano, author of many books, also spent most of 
their time in the Valteline and Chiavenna, as did Francesco 
Stancari, a native of Mantua, who taught Hebrew for a 
season in the former country. 

The Protestant churches in the Yalteline, and the counties 
of Chiavenna and Bormio were much troubled by certain 
exiles who were infected with the deadly error of Socinian- 
ism, and the dangerous ones of the Anabaptists of that day. 
Even the churches in the Grison republic itself were some- 
what troubled by the favorers of these errors, particularly 
in the valley of the Inn, in which Francesco, a Calabrian, 
and Jeronimo, a Mantuan, labored for awhile. Both were. 



THE GRISONS. 147 

however, expelled from tlie country before the poison had 
widely circulated. But in the Cisalpine territories of the 
Grison republic — in the Yalteline, and the districts of Chia- 
venna and Bormio — the case was worse. There, certain 
disciples of Servetus, among whom we must mention Camillo 
Eenato, Stancari, and Negri (spoken of above), Michael 
Angelo Florio, Jeronimo Turriano, and Ludovico Fieri, en- 
deavored to disseminate the same errors. They were aided 
in this work by the visits of the noted antitrinitarians, Alciati, 
Blandrata, Camillo Socino, and others, mostly laymen ; who 
came to the Grisons, some from Italy and the others from 
Switzerland. But the proceedings of the synod in the year 
1571, were such, that some of those who had been enveigled 
i n these heresies were ultimately recovered, and the others 
withdrew from the Grisons. After this, the country does not 
appear to have been disturbed again with these controver- 
sies. 

But the churches in the Cisalpine provinces of the Grisons 
had not only to suffer severe trials from within ; they were 
exposed to imminent danger from without. Rome had re- 
solved to leave no measure untried by which their extirpation 
might be effected. As this was not likely to be done by moral 
means, she determined to resort to physical force. For this 
purpose she exerted herself to secure the cooperation of the 
neighboring Catholic powers, especially that of Philip II., 
King of Spain, who had lately obtained the sovereignty of 
Milan. This bigoted prince was ready enough to enter into 
his Holiness' views. Of this he gave proof in the erection 
of a number of fortresses on the Milanese frontier along the 
Yalteline border. These^ fortresses gave protection to the 
Inquisitors and their myrmidons, who, sallying forth from 
these lurking-places, entered the Yalteline, and, seizing such 
persons as they deemed guilty of heresy, wherever they 
found them unprotected and unable to defend themselves, 



148 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

carried them into their dens — there to undergo summary 
punishment, or to be transferred to Rome, to await a no less 
dreadful doom. We blush to record, that the illustrious 
Charles Borromeo, ''^ Archbishop of Milan, and a cardinal, so 
celebrated for his intelligence and the decorum of his private 
life, was deeply involved in this iniquitous plot for uprooting 
and destroying the Protestant churches in the Cisalpine prov- 
inces of the Grisons by measures which partook more of the 
nature of brigandage than any thing elseJ The consequences 
were what might have been foreseen. The government of 
the Grisons not having the energy to repress these acts of 
violence at the outset, things went on from bad to worse, until 
intestine violence stalked with impunity throughout these 
once happy and prosperous valleys, and destroyed alike the 
peace and safety of individuals and of society. This state of 
things continued until the awful catastrophe of 1 620, namely, 
the indiscriminate and barbarous slaughter of the Protestants 
in the Yalteline, the revolt of the Cisalpine dependencies of 
the republic, and the temporary subjugation of all the coun- 
try of the Grisons by the armies of Spain and Austria. 

From that memorable epoch. Protestantism may be said 
to have become extinct in the southern dependencies of the 
Grisons. Not so, however, in the republic itself. There the 
Reformed doctrine has not ceased to maintain its foothold. 



77 Few men in the Roman Catholic Church have, in any age, attained so great a 
celebrity as Cardinal Borromeo. A man of unimpeachable private life, possessing 
distinguished talents, and a most benevolent heart, it is almost inconceivable that 
he should have lent his sanction to measures more worthy of a robber than of a 
Christian prelate. But the fact is, that one great, absorbing desire regulated all 
that he did — that of advancing the interests of the Roman Catholic Church. And 
to such a degree was he under the influence of this principle of action, that it often 
blinded his eyes as to the true moral qualities of human conduct. All his laudable 
efforts to reform the manners of his clergy, to educate the children of the poor in 
what have been called his ' Sunday schools,' and to train up able arid skilful theo- 
logians, had their origin and impulse in the desire to exalt not so much the TruXh^ 
as the Church of Rome ! 



CHURCHES IN SWITZERLAND. 149 

And there the Protestant portion of the population forms, at 
this moment, about two thirds of the whole. 

II. Protestant Italian Churches in Switzerland. 

1. At Zurich. The senate of Zurich gave up to the 
Italian exiles who came to that city — chiefly from Locarno 
— the use of a church, in which they celebrated Divine wor- 
ship in their own language. For a time, Beccaria officiated 
as their pastor. But he left them after a few months and 
returned to the Grisons, where he labored among the poor 
and ignorant population of the valley of Misocco, until driven 
thence by the agency of Cardinal Borromeo ; after which, 
he retiredto Chiavenna. 

Beccaria was succeeded in the church of the Locarnese 
exiles at Zurich by Ochino, of whom we have already spoken 
at length in another place. Ochino, after quitting Italy 
first went to Geneva, where he spent some time with Calvin ; 
but as there were few of his countrymen there at that time, 
to whom he might preach, he went to Basle, to superintend 
the printing of some of the productions of his pen. Thence 
he went to Augsburg, in Germany, where he preached in 
Italian in one of the churches in that city, at the municipal 
expense, for the benefit of the merchants, many of whom 
understood Italian. But the approach of Charles Y., with 
his army, in the year 1547, caused him to leave that place. 
We next hear of him at Basle, where he met his friend 
Martyr, who, with several others had arrived from Italy. 
With him he went over to England, upon the invitation of 
Cranmer, and remained there from 1547 to 1554. Whilst 
Martyr occupied the chair of Divinity in Oxford, Ochino 
was employed in preaching in London. But upon the 
death of Edward YL, and the accession of Queen Mary, 
in 1554, they both returned to the continent — Martyr to 
Strasburg and Ochino to Basle. The year following, Ochino 
13* 



150 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

was called to Zurich, to be the pastor of the Locarnese church. 
That post he held eight or nine years. 

Soon after the installation of Ochino at Zurich, Martyr 
was called to be professor of theology and Hebrew in the 
University of that city. This office he filled till his death, 
which occurred in the year 1562. His residence at Zurich 
was a great blessing to the Italian church and congregation. 
He often preached to them, either to relieve his friend Ochino, 
now advanced in life, or to fill his place when he was absent. 
His death was felt to be a great loss, not only to the Italian 
Protestants dispersed throughout Switzerland, but to the 
Protestant cause in general ; for he stood high in the estima- 
tion of the churches throughout Protestant Christendom, and 
his writings were, by general consent, placed next to those 
of Calvin. ^^ 

In the same year with Martyr, died Lelius Socinus, his 
countryman, who had resided at Zurich much of his time 
since he left Sienna, in Italy. Though many doubts were 
entertained concerning the soundness of the sentiments of 
this man on the subject of the Trinity, and the Divinity and 
proper work of Jesus Christ, he never, when interrogated, 
admitted that he held opinions different from those of Bul- 
linger. Martyr, and the other Reformers. But after his 
death, his antitrinitarian friends, and especially his brothers, 
and his more celebrated nephew, Faustus Socinus, who was 
at that epoch residing at Lyons, proclaimed that he was of 
their sentiments, and in proof of the fact, published extracts 
from his writings, as they affirmed. But, to the day of his 
death, there is reason to believe that he remained a member 



78 During his residence in England, Martyr lost his wife, who was buried at 
Oxford. On the restoration of Popery, under Queen Mary, Cardinal Pole, once 
his intimate friend, gave orders that her body should be disinterred and cast into 
a dunghill ! After the accession of Queen Elizabeth, it was removed, under the 
direction of Archbishop Parker, and honorably buried again. 



CHURCHES IN SWITZERLAND. 151 

of the Italian Protestant churcli at Zurich, whose creed was 
wholly evangelical. 

Not long after the death of Martyr, it became manifest to 
all that Ochino had also imbibed antitrinitarian sentiments. 
This had long been suspected. But now there was no deny- 
ing the fact ; for some publications which he issued about this 
time, partly in the way of setting forth his opinions, and 
partly in the way of defending them, removed all doubt. 
He was dismissed from his charge, and, what can never be 
justified, he was banished from Zurich. At the age of sev- 
enty-six, accompanied by his four little children, he set out 
in the depth of winter. He went first to Basle, and after- 
wards into Moravia, in Germany, and died at Slacovia, in 
the latter part of the year 1564, after having lost two sons 
and a daughter by the plague, which was then raging in that 
country. Whatever may have been the errors into which 
the venerable man may have fallen, one cannot read the de- 
tails of his last days without deeply deploring the want of 
better views on the subject of religious liberty than existed 
either in Catholic or Protestant countries at that period. 

After Ochino, the Locarnese church at Zurich continued 
to have a succession of excellent pastors until the emigration 
from Italy to that city ceased, and there was no longer need 
of an Italian church there. But though the Italian church 
and the Italian language disappeared in the lapse of time at 
Zurich, it is certain that some of the very best families there 
are descended from these Italian exiles. Nor has that city 
been slightly indebted to them for the prosperity which it 
has enjoyed. For they introduced into it the art of manu- 
facturing silk, set up mills and dye-houses, and contributed 
greatly by their skill and industry to augment its commerce 
and its wealth. 

2. At Basle. This city had long been distinguished as a 



152 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

resort of learned men ; ''^ a fact which induced many of the 
Italian Protestants to choose it as the place of their residence ; 
among whom we may mention Paolo di Colli, a celebrated 
lawyer, from Alexandria, in the Duchy of Milan; Guglielmo 
Grataroli, a physician of Bergamo; Alfonso Corrado, of 
Mantua, and author of a commentary on the Apocalypse; 
Silvestro Teglio, and Francesco Betti, a Roman knight, both 
learned men ; Mino Celso, a native of Sienna, a literary man ; 
Petrus Perna, a printer from Lucca, who was eminently useful 
to the Protestant cause : and Celio Secundo Curio, of whose 
escape from Italy we have given a full account in another place. 

At his arrival in Switzerland, the Senate of Berne placed 
Curio at the head of the College of Lausanne. From that 
post he was transferred to the chair of Roman eloquence, in 
the University of Basle. To that city great numbers of 
young men flocked to hear him. And soon he received 
pressing invitations from the Emperor of Germany, the King 
of Transylvania, and the Duke of Savoy, to fill chairs in 
Universities in their respective dominions. Even the pope, 
through his legate, the Bishop of Terracina, made him the 
most liberal offers to induce him to return to Italy. But he 
rejected all these offers, and remained at Basle till his death, 
which occurred in the year 1569. He was the author of 
many works, not only on the subject of religion, but on 
grammar and criticism. His editions of the Latin classics, 
accompanied with notes, did great service to Roman litera- 
ture and education. 

Of all the men who left Italy, for the sake of the Protest- 
ant religion, the loss of Curio was the most regretted in that 
country. This is a very important circumstance, for it is to 
his pen that we are indebted for many of the facts relating 
to the rise, progress, and suppression of the Reformation in 

79 Among whom was the celebrated Erasmus, who spent many of his latter years 
in that city, and died there. 



CHURCHES IN SWITZERLAND. 153 

Italy. And most of the narratives of the Italian martyrs 
either came from his pen, or were submitted to his revision, 
before they were published. ^ He left several children, who 
were distinguished for their talents and learning ; and among 
his descendants are to be found some of the most eminent 
names in the Protestant church, such as the Buxtorfs, Gry- 
naeus, Freyus, and Werenfels. ^^ 

There were a few Italian refugees, we believe, in the city 
of Berne and at Lausanne, and other places in what is now 
the Canton of Yaud, but what was then a part of the Bern- 
ese territories ; but the number was inconsiderable. 

III. Italian Church at Geneva. 

At the time of which we write, Geneva formed no part of 
the Swiss confederacy. That city had long been one of the 
Imperial free cities before the Reformation. When she 
embraced the Reformed opinions, the Duke of Savoy deter- 
mined, for the double object of destroying heresy and of aug- 
menting his own dominions by such an important acquisition, 
to gain possession of her by force. But the Bernese having 
embraced the Reformed religion, would not permit this, and 
more than once sent their armies and drove away the Savoy- 
ards from the walls of Geneva. After the Reformation, she 
remained till the year 1798 an independent city, having 
scarcely any territory beyond her walls. In that year the 
French Republic overran, by her armies, and conquered all 
the French, or southwestern part of Switzerland, and added 
it to France. Geneva became the capital of the Department 
du Leman, and remained such till 1814. In that year the 
Congress of Vienna restored the former state of things in 
Switzerland, gave to Geneva some territories around her to 

80 By his friend, Pantaleon. 

81 Dr. Mc One's History of the Reformation in Italy, pp. 358, 359. ~ Tempe Helvetica, 
torn. vi. p. 47. 



154 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

the distance of a few miles, whieli had formerly belonged to 
Savoy on the south, and France on the north, in compensa- 
tion for some estates which she had held in both those coun- 
tries as properties belonging to ancient convents of the city. 
This augmented the population and importance of the Gen- 
evan republic very much. ^^ The Congress of Vienna at- 
tached the republic of Geneva, thus enlarged into a canton, 
to the Swiss confederacy, of which she is now a constituent 
member. 

But to return to the time of which we are writing. Gen- 
eva was at that period an independent city, acknowledging no 
subjection to any other power in the world, and found her 
greatest security in her feebleness, if we may so speak ; for 
she had scarcely a population of more than fifteen thousand 
souls. She was, however, wholly Protestant, a Koman 
Catholic not being allowed to be a citizen, or even to remain 
beyond a certain length of time within the gates. 

As early as 1542, a congregation of Italian refugees was 
formed at Geneva, and was under the pastoral inspection of 
Bernardino de Sesvaz, who is supposed to have been none 
other than Bernardino Ochino, who assumed, it is conjectured, 
that appellation for the purpose of concealment in the begin- 
ning of his exile. Its meetings, however, were soon after- 
wards discontinued, probably because of the smallness of the 
number of exiles who had then arrived. 

But in the year 1551, the Italian service was recommenced, 
and continued till the end of the century. The principal 
person who was active in its reestablishment was the cele- 
brated Galeazzo Caraccioli, of whom we have made mention 
in speaking of the progress of the Reformation in Naples. 
This distinguished man, of noble family — being the son of 
the Marquis of Vico, and connected with some of the most 

82 It was in this way that Geneva received her Catholic population, which is 
now 24,000, whilst the Protestant is 3G,000. 



ITALIAN CHUKCH IN GENEYA. 155 

elevated families in Italy, ^ — was highly esteemed by the 
people of Geneva, and was admitted to all the rights and 
privileges of a citizen, and made a member of the highest 
councils of the republic. And well did he show, in all his 
subsequent life, that he was worthy of the confidence reposed 
in him. Twice did he visit Italy to meet his aged father, and 
twice also to meet his wife, who disappointed him by the ad- 
vice of her confessor, but whom he saw by going boldly to 
the gate of his father's castle at Yico. On that occasion he 
passed several days surrounded by his family — father, wife, 
and children. But all their endeavors to persuade him to 
return to the Roman Catholic Church were in vain ; and vain 
too, were his efforts to induce his wife to go with him to 
Geneva. The scene of final parting was heart-rending. His 
wife hung about his neck, and his children, and especially a 
lovely daughter of thirteen years, clasped his knees, so that, 
overwhelmned with sorrow, he had literally to shake them 
from him. For years the scene haunted his imagination day 
and night. But he could not abandon Christ, even for the 
dearest earthly friends. Nor did Christ abandon him. After 
he had remained nine years in exile, and his former marriage 
had been annulled by the government of Geneva, on the 
ground of his wife's refusing to live with him, he married the 
widow of a French refugee. In doing this, he had the appro- 
bation of Calvin and all the leading Reformers in Switzerland. 
Caraccioli never entered the ministry, but he consented 
to fill the oflSce of ruling elder in the Protestant Italian 
Church. Lattantio Ragnoni, from Sienna, was chosen pastor. 
He was a faithful minister of the gospel. In the year 1553, 
Celso Massimiliano was chosen as a second pastor. He was a 

83 His mother was a sister of Cardinal Caraffa, afterwards Pope Paul IV., and 
his wife was Vittoria, the daughter of the Duke of Nunceria, who brought him a 
large fortune and bore him six children. From all these he had to tear himself 
away, when he determined openly to follow Christ. 



156 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

man of distinguished talents, and was usually called Martin- 
engo, because he was the son of a count of that name, in the 
territories of Brescia. He died in 1557, and two years later 
was succeeded by Nicola Balbani, who served the church till 
near the end of that century. The church flourished unin- 
terruptedly, excepting during a short period when Alciati 
and Blandrata, of whom we have spoken when treating of 
the Italian churches in the Grisons, aided by Yalentinus 
Gentilis, and Gribaldo, a lawyer, endeavored to disseminate 
antitrinitarian sentiments among the members. A Confession 
of Faith was drawn up in 1558, by Calvin, for the church, 
after whose adoption the difficulty soon ceased. 

Almost every year, for a long period, the Italian congrega- 
tion was augmented by the annual arrival of Protestant ref- 
ugees from Italy. They were received by all classes of the 
Genevese with the greatest kindness. Nor had the city ever 
occasion to regret that she opened her gates to them. Among 
those who have served her most honorably in the senate, in 
the academy, and in the field, from that time to the present, 
are to be found Italian refugees and their descendants. No 
names have been more illustrious in that commonwealth, than 
the Diodati, ^ Turretini, ^ Calandrini, Burlamachi, ^ Micheli, 
Minutoli, Butini, and Offredi. 

84 Of the Diodati, the most celebrated was Giovanni, or John, who was born at 
Lucca about the year 1589, of a noble Catholic family ; but embracing the Protest- 
ant religion, he retired to Geneva, where such was the proficiency which he made in 
learning, that he was chosen professor of Hebrew at the age of nineteen. He was 
deputed with his colleague. Professor Tronchin, to the Synod of Dort, and was one 
of the six men who drew up its canons. He was the author of many works, the 
most important of which was a translation of the Bible into Italian, which he exe- 
cuted in a masterly manner. He died at Geneva, in the year 1649. 

85 The most distinguished of the Turretini were Benedict, Francis, and John AI- 
phonsus, - father, son, and grandson, — all of whom were born at Geneva, and all 
were professors in the Academy; the two former, of Theology, and the latter — who 
was not equal to the others in soundness of doctrine — of Ecclesiastical History. 
He died in the year 1737. His father died in 1687. 

8G The Burlamachi were from Lucca, where one of that name attempted, as has 
been stated, to set on foot a revolution, which should deliver Italy from the tyrants 



ITALIAN CHURCH IN GENEVA. 157 

Persecution in Spain drove many of tliose wlio had em- 
braced the new doctrines from that country, some of whom 
took refuge in Geneva. The archives of that city contain 
a record of this nature, of the date of October 14th, 1557 : — 
' Received the same morning, 300 inhabitants, namely, 200 
French, 50 English, 25 Italians, 4 Spanish, etc., insomuch 
that the antechamber of the Council could not contain them 
all.' The same privileges were extended to the Spanish as 
to the Italian exiles ; and Juan Perez ^ formed a congrega- 
tion of them, and officiated as their pastor for awhile. After 
his departure for France, De Reyna and others preached the 
gospel to this little flock of Protestant Spaniards. But, as 
many of its members removed to England and other parts, 
and as most of those who remained at Geneva understood 
Italian, in process of time, they relinquished their Spanish 
service and attached themselves to the Italian church, of 
which Balbani was pastor. ^ 

that oppressed her. Several persons of this name roie to distinction at Geneva, 
among whom vremay mention Fabricius, called by Bayle, ' the Photius of his age,' 
who was minister of the Italian church there. Another was John James Burlamac- 
chi, professor of law, and author of a celebrated treatise on the Law of Nations. 

87 Juan Perez was born in Andalusia. In 1527 he was sent to Rome as Charge 
d'Affaires for Charles V. Subsequently he was placed at the head of the College of 
Doctrine at Seville, where he became intimate with Egidio, and learned from him 
the Evangelical doctrine. "When that excellent man was thrown into prison, Perez 
left Spain and went to Geneva. Being called from that city to Blois, he officiated 
there some time as a preacher. After that, he acted as chaplain to the Duchess 
Renee, at the chiteau of Montargis, and died at Paris. He bequeathed all his for- 
tune to the printing of the Bible in his native tongue. He had commenced the 
translation, but was compelled to leave it unfinished in the hands of Cassiodoro de 
Reyna, who completed it ten years afterwards. It was published at Basle, in the 
year 1569. Perez translated the New Testament into Spanish some years before 
his death, and also the Book of Psalms. His Catechism and Summary of Chris- 
tian Doctrine appeared about the same time. 

88 Dr. McCrie's History of the Reformation in Spain, pp. 259—269. One of the 
most distinguished Spanish Protestants who came to Geneva was Pedro Gales, who 
arrived there in the year 1580. Whilst teaching Greek and Jurisprudence in Italy, 
he fell under the suspicion of heresy, and was subjected to the torture, by which he 
lost one of his eyes. Escaping from prison, he came to Geneva, and was appoint- 

14 



158 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

lY. The Italian Exiles in France, 

Whilst some of the Protestants from Italy took refuge in 
several other cities in France, the greater part of them 
went to Lyons, which was, in the sixteenth century, a place 
of great resort for merchants from all parts of Europe. So 
numerous were the Italian Protestants in that city that the 
pope's solicitude was not a little awakened, and he sent mis- 
sionaries to labor for their recovery to the Roman Catholic 
Church. But all his efforts were vain. In the beginning 
of 1562, the Italians obtained permission to hold meetings 
for public worship. It was their desire to have the cele- 
brated Zanchi for their pastor ; but his duties elsewhere pre- 
vented his acceptance of their invitation. 

Several editions of the New Testament, and other religious 
books, in the Itahan language issued from the press at Lyons. 

It is an interesting fact that many of the Spanish Protest- 
ants repaired to the city of Lyons, where they united with 
their Italian brethren. They were received with much 
kindness by the French Protestants, who sympathized greatly 
with them, shared with them the religious liberty which they 
enjoyed at that time, and admitted several of their ministers 
to be pastors in their churches. Some converted Moors who 
had escaped, with the Protestants, from the clutches of the 
Inquisition of Spain, were also received with great kind- 
ness. ^^ 

ed joint professor of philosophy with Giulio Paci, an eminent Italian jurist. He was 
afterwards, during a temporary suspension of the exercises of the Academy, owing 
to the attempts upon Geneva by the Duke of Savoy, invited to Bordeaux to become 
rector of the College of Guienne. Not being contented with his situation there, he 
set out for the Netherlands. On hig way he was seized by some partisans of the 
League, and delivered to the Spaniards, and by them to the Inquisition, by whose 
sentence he was consigned to the flames. He met death with courage and hope in 
God. He was a man of great learning. 
89 Dr. McCrie's History of the Reformation in Spain^ pp. 258, 259. 



ITALIAN EXILES IN GERMANY. 159 

V. The Italian Exiles in Germany. 

Several of the Protestant Italians who left their country 
for their religion, ultimately arrived in the south part of Ger- 
many. The greater number went to Strasburg, which open- 
ed its gates with alacrity to receive them. Strasburg was, 
during that period, a city of Germany and not of France, 
Alsace not having been then conquered by the latter. 

Among the distinguished exiles from Italy who went to 
that city, and remained there a longer or shorter time, were 
Paolo Lacisio, of Yerona, famous as a linguist; Jeronimo 
Massario, of Vicenza, who became a professor of medicine in 
the University ; Martyr, who twice sojourned there for a few 
months, and Jerome Zanchi, who resided there several years 
as professor of divinity, and preached to the Italian Protest- 
ants, who held their meetings in a private house, because 
their number was not large enough to justify them in having 
a church. 

Zanchi was one of the most distinguished of all the Italians 
who embraced the Reformed doctrine, for his talents, learn- 
ing, and piety. He was a native of Azano, in the territory 
of Bergamo. The reading of the works of Melancthon, 
Bullinger, Musculus, and other Reformers, and the hearing 
of the lectures of Martyr, led him to renounce his monastic 
life, and the other errors of Rome, for the gospel. He came 
to Strasburg by way of the Grisons and Geneva, and had 
the intention originally of passing over to England. Differ- 
ence of opinion from some of his fellow-professors on the 
points which divided the Calvinists (to whom he belonged) 
and the Lutherans, led him, upon the death of the celebrated 
Sturmius, the great patron of the Academy of Strasburg, to 
retire into Switzerland, and thence to Chiavenna, where he 
preached five years. In 1568, he accepted an invitation to a 
professorship in the University of Heidelberg, -where he re- 



160 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

mained ten years. Feeling the influence of the prejudice 
which existed in relation to his former disputes with the 
Lutherans, whilst at Strasburg, he removed to Neustadt, in 
the Palatinate, whither he was invited by Count John Casi- 
mir, the administrator or governor. Eut he did not live long 
afterwards ; he died at Heidelberg, when on a visit to that 
city, in the year 1590. He was a man of remarkable mod- 
eration, and yet possessed great firmness. His ability was 
such that Sturmius used to say that he would not be afraid 
to trust him alone in a dispute against all the Fathers as- 
sembled at Trent. He was the author of many works, — 
which were collected and printed in eight folio volumes at 
Geneva, in the year 1613. 

The celebrated Olympia Morata, as we have elsewhere 
stated, sought refuge in Germany. For several years she 
lived in great contentment and happiness at Schweinfurt, an 
imperial town in Franconia, the birthplace of her husband. 
There, surrounded by kind friends, and by her books, she 
resumed her studies. But the place having been taken by 
Albert, Marquis of Brandenburg, underwent a long siege by 
the German princes, who were determined to expel him. 
During much of this time, this accomplished and excellent 
lady, who had never been accustomed to such exposures, 
lived in a damp cellar. And when the city was taken, she 
escaped with no little difficulty, in disguise, to a neighboring 
village, in a state of great exhaustion. 'If you had seen 
me,' she writes to her friend Curio, ' with my feet bare and 
bleeding, my hair dishevelled, and my borrowed clothes all 
torn, you would have pronounced me the queen of beggars.' 

The Elector Palatine after this calamity gave her husband 
a place in the University of Heidelberg, whither they re- 
moved. For awhile her friends hoped that her tender con- 
stitution would survive the rude shock which it had received, 
and recover its former vigor. She even began to resume 



ITALIAN PROTESTANTS IN THE NETHERLANDS. 161 

her literary pursuits, and was surrounding herself with the 
books which her friends were sending her, to replace those 
which she had lost — for all her library, and, what is worse, 
all her own manuscripts, had perished in the siege and cap- 
ture of Schweinfurt. But soon her health began to decline, 
and she went, by a rapid consumption, to the tomb. She 
died, lamented by all who knew her, on the 26th of October, 
1555, in the twenty-ninth year of her age. Her end was 
eminently peaceful and resigned. To the last, she felt a 
deep interest in her dear ' Itaha,' though she had long lost 
all desire to return thither, since Truth had been allowed to 
fall, and its friends to pour out their blood in vain. After 
her death, her friend and correspondent. Curio, published her 
works, which consist of letters, dialogues in Latin and Ital- 
ian, and Greek poems, chiefly paraphrases of the Psalms, in 
heroic and Sapphic verse. ^ Such was the end of one of 
the most remarkable and most lovely women whom the world 
has ever seen. 

VI. Italian Protestants in the Netherlands. 

It is probable that a few Italian and Spanish Protestants 
took refuge in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Breda, etc. But it 
was at Antwerp, then and for a long time afterwards, one of 
the greatest emporiums in Europe, that most of those settled, 
who went to the Netherlands. The doctrines of the Refor- 
mation early gained an entrance into that city, owing to the 
great number of strangers who flocked to it, and to the greater 
freedom of opinion which commerce ever brings in its train. 

At first, and for several years, the Italian Protestants at 
Antwerp worshipped with the French Protestant church, 

90 Dr. McCrie's History of the Reformation in Italy, pp. 359—361. The 'works of 
Olympia Morata were published in 1558, in one volume, and went through four 
editions in twenty-two years. All her productions display a piQus and highly cul- 
tivated mind. 

14* 



162 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

which was formed there soon after the Netherlands had 
thrown off the domination of Spain. But in the year 1580, 
as their number had greatly augmented, they resolved to 
organize themselves into a separate church. They invited 
Zanchi to be their pastor ; but engagements elsewhere pre- 
vented him from accepting their call. He recommended, 
however, Ulixio Martinengho, whom it is probable they 
chose as their spiritual guide. 

It would seem that the Spanish Protestants had a church 
of their own at Antwerp, long before the Italians. It is 
probable that they were far more numerous in that city ; nor 
is it strange that they should be. For the Netherlands had 
for many years been under the government of Spain, and 
Antwerp had maintained an extensive trade with that 
country. It was to the Protestant merchants of that city that 
Spain was greatly indebted for the holy Scriptures and other 
religious books in her vernacular tongue. Antonio de Cor- 
ran, or Corranus, of Seville, was pastor of the Spanish church 
in Antwerp, before the capture of that city by the bloody 
Duke of Alva, in the year 1568. After the recovery of its 
liberty, and the return of the exiles to their former asylum, 
they had another native of Seville, Cassiodoro de Reyna, the 
translator of the Bible, as their pastor until 1585, when the 
city was brought again under the Spanish yoke^ by the Duke 
of Parma, after one of the most memorable sieges in modern 
times. Before his settlement at Antwerp, De Reyna had 
resided for a time at Strasburg, Frankfort on the Maine, and 
other cities in Germany, where he found a number of his 
countrym'en. At Basle he finished his translation of the 
Bible, upon which he had bestowed much labor and pains for 
several years. 



ITALIAN CHURCH AT LONDON. 163 

Vn. Italian Protestant Church at London. 

To tlie honor of England it must be said that she afforded 
an asylum to Protestants of every country, who fled from 
persecution at the commencement of the Eeformation. The 
Dutch, French, Italian, and Spanish Protestants had churches 
of their own in London, and the two former had places of 
worship for some time in Southwark, Canterbury, Norwich, 
Colchester, Maidstone, Sandwich, and Southampton. ^^ The 
Italian and Spanish Protestants who resided in these places 
united with the French. 

There was an Italian church in London as early as 1551, 
of which Michael Angelo Florio was pastor. After the 
death of Queen Mary, Jeronimo Jerlito succeeded Florio. 
The most distinguished members of this church were Jacomo 
Contio, or Acontius, Battista Castiglioni, Giulio Borgarusci, 
Camillo Cardoini, and Albericus Gentilis. Towards the end 
of the sixteenth century, the Italian congregation appears to 
have united with the French. Yet Antonio de Dominis, 
former Archbishop of Spalatro, preached in Italian in Lon- 
don, in 1616, and had one of the Calandrini for a colleague.^ 

The Spanish Protestants in London do not appear to have 
had a congregation of their own till the accession of Queen 
Elizabeth. Their first pastor was one Cassiodoro. The 
countenance given by England to Protestant exiles, and 
especially to those from Spain, gave great offence both to the 
pope and to the king of Spain. Pius V. specifies this fact 
as the ground of one of the charges against Elizabeth, in his 
bull excommunicating her. This decree was triumphantly 
answered by Bishop Jewel. As to the king of Spain, he 
thought to punish England and her queen for this and other 
offences, by sending against her his Armada, proudly styled 



91 Strype's Annals^ i. 554. 

92 Dr. McCrie's History of the Reformation in Spain, p. 270. 



164 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

invincible. But God frustrated all his devices, and England 
remained unsubdued, and the home of the oppressed of every 
land. 

In the year 1568, Corranus came over from Antwerp, to 
become pastor of the Spanish church at London. But 
the most distinguished of all the emigrants to England, from 
the Peninsula, was Cjpriano de Yalera, who was the author 
of several valuable works, among which may be specified his 
translations of the Bible, and of the Catechism and Institutes 
of Calvin, into Spanish. 

Vin. Concluding Remarks, 

We have now arrived at the conclusion of what we pur- 
posed to say respecting the rise, progress, and suppression of 
the Reformation in Italy. We have endeavored to trace the 
means by which Truth for awhile gained ground rapidly in 
that country ; and have related by what measures the cheer- 
ing prospect was soon blighted and destroyed. And we have 
followed the noble bands of those who forsook all for Christ, 
into the various countries to which they turned their faces 
when they left their native land. 

* Some natural tears they dropt, but wiped them soon ; 
The world was all before them, where to choose 
Their place of rest, and Providence their guide.' 

In whatever light we view the Reformation in Italy, it 
must appear to us a most interesting movement. There was 
every influence employed to oppose it. It took place in the 
very heart of the dominions of the ^ Man of Sin.' All that 
power, all that persuasion, all that alluring temptation, all 
that cunning and intrigue, and all that hellish cruelty could 
do, was put in requisition to arrest and put down the glorious 
undertaking. And yet, amid all these obstacles, the work 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 165 

went on, until thousands, and tens of thousands, of the best 
minds in that country embraced the Truth, and for it forsook 
all that earth can afford of what is most dear, most attractive 
to the human heart. And although many had not the 
courage to persevere, and therefore drew back with the hope, 
that they might adhere to the gospel in secret, whilst main- 
taining an external communion with the Roman Catholic 
Church, there was a ' cloud of witnesses ' who nobly stood up 
for the glorious cause of Christ and his crown, and whose 
record is on high. In no other country was there such an 
eclecticism in the Reformation, if we may so speak, as in 
Italy. A large number of those who embraced the new doc- 
trines, were persons of distinguished talents and attainments. 
Many belonged to the highest ranks of society. We doubt 
whether it would have been easy to find an equal number of 
people in that country or any other, at that day, who were 
their equals in every thing which constitutes true excellence. 
They were in every sense a noble band. And those who 
suffered death, and those who ' suffered the loss of all things/ 
were martyrs for the Truth, whose example, as well as their 
testimony, ought ever to be accounted most precious. ' The 
firm endurance of suffering by the martyrs of conscience,' 
says one of the most philosophical writers of modem times, ' if 
it be rightly contemplated, is the most consolatory spectacle 
in the clouded life of man ; far more ennobling and sublime 
than the outward victories of virtue, which must be partly 
won by weapons not her own, and are often the lot of her 
foulest foes. Magnanimity in enduring pain for the sake of 
conscience is not, indeed, an unerring mark of rectitude ; but 
it is of all other destinies that which most exalts the sect or 
party whom it visits, and bestows on their story an undying 
command over the hearts of their fellow-men.' ^ 

93 Sir James Mackintosh's History of England, vol. ii. p. 327. 



166 ITALIAN PROTESTANTS DISPERSED. 

But in what state did the exiles from Italy leave that 
country ? And what were the effects of the suppression of 
the Reformation there ? These questions, and many others, 
will fall under our consideration, when we come to the second 
portion of our work — Protestantism in Italy in our day. 
Upon this subject we are now to enter. 



I 



PART II 



PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY, 



I 



PART II. 



PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY: PAST AND PRESENT. 



CHAPTER I. 

GENERAL STATE OF ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

We come now to tlie second portion of our work — 
Protestantism in Italy at the present Time. 

In discussing this subject, we shall begin by taking a retro- 
spective view of the state of that country, from the suppres- 
sion of the Reformation^ to our own times, dwelling chiefly 
on those topics which have a bearing, more or less direct, on 
the moral and religious interests of its inhabitants. 

1 II is difficult to fix the epoch, at which it may be said that the extirpation of the 
Reformed doctrine was completed. Open and active persecution, as we have 
seen, began to be entered upon by Rome in the year 1542. And although it is true 
that the work of destroying the ' Lutheran heresy ' was mainly accomplished 
within a period of about twenty years, or before the year 1562 had passed, yet it is 
not less certain that, in some parts of Italy, the new opinions had many secret 
friends until the end of that century. 

It is even asserted, on good authority, that the doctrines of the Reformers were 
held, and their writings read by many in the city of Venice, in the early part of the 
seventeenth century. The friends of evangelical religion in that place were in the 
habit of holding secret meetings for worship, separate from those which the ambas- 
sadors of Protestant States were permitted to maintain for the use of themselves, 
their families, and their dependants. 

15 



170 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION, 



I. Political Changes through which Italy has passed since 

the Reformation, 

It does not comport with the nature of this work to enter, 
in detail, upon a consideration of the numerous political 
phases which that country presented during the period of 
which we are writing. And yet a brief notice of the most 
important changes which it underwent may be neither useless 
nor unacceptable. 

In the early part of the sixteenth century, there still 
remained a considerable amount of liberty in Italy, although 
the numerous republics which had sprung up in preceding 
centuries had lost much of their freedom through the success- 
ful intrigues of domestic and foreign enemies. The Roman 
commonwealth had ceased with the ineffectual efforts of 
Rienzi and other patriots, as early as the year 1354. In the 
other states, ambitious and powerful families, after having 
raised themselves to power by their distinguished services, 
finished by usurping the liberties of the people. Of these, 
the houses of the Medici at Florence, of the Yisconti and 
Sforza at Milan, of Este at Ferrara, of Gonzaga at Mantua, 
of Pestrucci at Sienna, as well as many others, gave notable 
illustrations. The republics were all become oligarchies, and 
in a sense petty tyrannies, at the epoch of the Reformation. 
Yet as they were independent of each other, and jealous 
both of the popes and of the emperors of Germany, they 
afforded, for awhile, no little protection, as we have seen, to 
the friends of the Truth. 

But even then, the extinction of some states, and the con- 
version of others into duchies, or ducal monarchies, had 
made no inconsiderable progress. This process continued 
until there was not, at the commencement of the eighteenth 
century, a vestige of liberty left in Italy, save what existed 



POLITICAL CHANGES. 171 

in the republics of Genoa, Venice, and San Marino. And at 
the close of that century, even the two former ceased to exist ; 
and San Marino, probably the smallest independent state in 
the world, remained the only one in Italy where the people 
had any direct influence in the choice of their rulers and the 
enactment of their laws. All the far-famed republics of that 
country had sunk down into mere municipalities, and enjoyed 
no other right than that of petition. But let us take a 
hasty survey of the several subdivisions of the country, and 
bestow a few paragraphs on their origin, commencing at the 
south. 

After passing through various fortunes, Naples, which was 
an appanage of Spain, and governed by a viceroy at the time 
of the Reformation, became, in process of time, an indepen- 
dent kingdom, under the title of the Two Sicilies. The 
accession of Charles, Infant of Spain, in the early part of the 
last century, gave to that country the Bourbon- Spanish 
Koyal family, which reigns there at the present day. In the 
days of Napoleon it was conquered by the French, who 
placed successively over it Joseph Bonaparte, and Murat, 
brother and brother-in-law of that wonderful man. But his 
second downfall, after the battle of Waterloo, brought back 
the old dynasty, with all its bigotry, its vices, and its hatred 
of light and liberty. This kingdom is the largest in extent 
and population of all the states of Italy, and its limits have 
undergone few changes for more than one hundred years. 

North of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies lie the Estates 
of the Church, or Kingdom of the Pope. These have been 
considerably enlarged since the Reformation, by the addition 
of the Duchy of Ferrara, the Duchy of Urbino, and some other 
little territories. So that his Holiness now possesses the 
whole of Romagna, lying east of the Apennines, and claimed 
by the Papal See, as the double gift of Constantino and 
Charlemagne. The congress of Vienna, however, took away 



172 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

a strip of land nortli of the Po, and made that river the 
boundary in that direction of the papal kingdom. 

On the western side of the Peninsula, the Duchy of Tuscany 
lies immediately north of the Estates of the Church. By 
one encroachment after another on its neighbors, Sienna, 
Pisa, etc., the Medician tyrants, who overthrew the republic 
of Florence, built up the present Grand Duchy of Tuscany. 
The house of Medici becoming extinct in 1737, Francis 
Stephen, Duke of Lorraine, received the sovereign power of 
Tuscany. Becoming emperor of Germany in 1745, he 
made it the appanage of the younger line of the Austro-Lor- 
raine line, to which it still belongs. It is in this way that 
the ducal family became so intimately related to the house of 
Hapsburg. 

On the northwestern side of Tuscany is the little Duchy of 
Lucca, stretching down from the Apennines to the Mediter- 
ranean, The year 1370 saw this little state receive an inde- 
pendent existence. It was a republic governed by a gonfalo- 
nier e, or captain-general, until 1797. Napoleon united it to 
Piombino, and gave it to one of his brothers-in-law, as a 
principality. In 1815 the congress of Vienna granted it to 
the Infanta Maria Louisa, daughter of Charles lY. of Spain, 
and widow of the late king of Etruria. Upon the death of 
Maria Louisa, the Duchess of Parma, the Duchess of Lucca 
is to succeed her in that principality ; and then Lucca is to 
become united to Tuscany. Such was the decision of the 
congress of Vienna, in 1815. 

The greatly larger Duchy of Modena lies north of the 
Apennines, and stretches down to the Po. It has the Estates 
of the Church on the east and the Duchy of Parma on the 
west. This duchy became an independent principality in 
1597, when the illegitimate Cesare d'Este, a cousin by 
marriage of the last Duke of Ferrara, received Modena and 
Reggio. The reigning Duke is Francis IV., son of the Arch- 



POLITICAL CHANGES. 173 

duke Ferdinand, of Austria, (a brother of the Emperor Leo- 
pold n.,) and the only daughter of Ercole III., a descendant 
of Cesare d'Este. The congress of Vienna augmented the 
territory of this Duchy, by adding to it the little districts of 
Mirandola, Corregio, Massa, Carrara, and others still 
smaller. 

The Duchy of Parma lies west of Modena, and also reaches 
from the Apennines to the river Po. This Duchy was 
created by Pope Paul IIL, for his infamous illegitimate son, 
Pietro Luigi. Elizabeth Farnese, a descendant of this 
Luigi, having married Philip Y., of Spain, the Duchy passed 
into the possession of the Spanish Bourbons. It was afterwards 
ceded to Austria, when Don Carlos, son of Philip Y., became 
king of Naples. The congress of Yienna granted the Duchy 
of Parma, including Piacenza and Guastalla, to the Arch- 
duchess Maria Louisa, the widow of Napoleon. By a subse- 
quent arrangement it has been decided that she is to be 
succeeded by the Duchess of Lucca, or her heirs. 

The Austrian possessions in Italy are bounded on the 
south by the Po, on the west by the Tecino (a branch of the 
Po) and Lake Maggiore. They include a large portion of 
the ancient duchies of Milan and Mantua, a small part of 
Parma, and of the States of the Church, and the whole of 
the Yenetian territories, save Istria and the little Canton of 
Civida, which are united to Illyria. It is in many respects 
the finest part of Italy. The history of its connection with 
Austria, briefly stated, is this. The large Duchy of J\lilan 
was constituted by the Emperor Wenceslaus, in the year 
1395. The celebrated famihes of the Yisconti and Sforzas 
ruled it tiU the commencement of the sixteenth century. 
Louis XH. and Francis I., attempting to add it to France, a 
long war ensued, in which the JMilanese were assisted, first 
by the Swiss and afterwards by the emperor of Germany, 
Charles Y. The French were driven out of Italy. Charles 
15* 



174 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

V. having gained possession of tlie Duchy, left it to his son 
Philip IL, king of Spain, to which country it was subject 
till 1706, when it came into the possession of Austria. In 
the years 1735 and 1745, portions of it w^ere ceded to the 
kingdom of Sardinia. In 1796 and 1797, Napoleon con- 
quered all the north of Italy, and out of the duchies of Milan, 
Mantua, and some other territories, he formed the Cisalpine 
Republic. In 1801, this was succeeded by the Italian Re- 
public. And this again gave place in 1805, to the kingdom 
of Italy. The congress of Vienna united the duchies of 
Milan and Mantua, together with the Valteline and the 
counties of Bormio and Chiavenna, which had belonged to 
the Grisons, to the Venetian territories, which she had 
claimed since 1797, and thus constituted the present Lom- 
bardo-Venetian kingdom, the capitals of w^hich are Milan 
and Venice. 

And thus disappeared, finally and forever, the celebrated 
republic of Venice, after it had existed fourteen centuries. 
The French, in the year 1797, ceded it, and all its territories 
east of the Adige, including Itria and Dalmatia, to Austria. 
In 1805, Napoleon retook them from Austria, and annexed 
them to the kingdom of Italy. And, as we have just said, the 
congress of Vienna added Venice and all its territories 
around the head of the Adriatic Gulf, which once embraced 
three millions of inhabitants, to the empire of Austria. 

In the northwestern part of Italy lies Piedmont, the most 
extensive and most valuable part of the kingdom of Sardinia. 
This kingdom is a modern one. The claims of Emmanuel 
Philibert, Duke of Savoy, to the greater portion of what is 
now called Piedmont, were acknowledged by France and 
Spain in the treaty of Cambray, in the year 1559. In the 
treaty of peace at Utrecht, in the year 1714, Austria obtained 
Naples and the Island of Sardinia. The latter she ceded to 
Savoy, in exchange for the Island of Sicily, which had fallen 



POLITICAL CHANGES. 175 

to tliat power. From that time the kingdom of Sardinia dates 
its origin. Augmented bj portions of the former Duchj of 
Milan, on the one hand, and by the district of Nice on the 
other, it rose to the rank of a considerable state. Napoleon 
overran and conquered all the continental part of the king- 
dom, and annexed it to the French empire. But the con- 
gress of Vienna restored things to their former footing, and 
added the city of Genoa and its territory - — contrary to the 
express engagements of the British general, Lord William 
Bentinck — to the Sardinian monarchy. 

It appears from the preceding survey, that during the last 
three centuries, or the period which has elapsed smce the 
Reformation, Italy has undergone vast changes. In fact, no 
part of that country has remained in its former state, save 
the little republic of San Marino, ^ perched on its mountain 
top, and quietly looking down upon the distant Adriatic. 
Nothing but its weakness and insignificance have, for nearly 
fourteen centuries, protected it from the rapacity of the con- 
querors who have so often traversed the whole country. 

We conclude what we had purposed to say under this 
head, by giving a summary view of the extent and population 
of the several divisions of Italy, derived from the best sources 
with which we have been able to meet. We have reason, 



3 It has been common to associate the little principality of Monaco, situated on 
the Mediterranean, east of Nice, with San Marino, in the category of ancient States 
which have remained unchanged by all the modern revolutions. But this is not 
correct. Monaco was subject to France during Bonaparte's reign, and was a 
constituent part of the * grand Empire.' The congress of Vienna restored it to its 
proper princes, and placed it under the protection of Sardinia. 

The principality of Monaco has about the same population as the republic of San 
Marino. But Monaco has an area of five hundred and thirty-five square miles ; 
whilst its distant rival has but forty-four. The capital of Monaco is a pleasant little 
seaport of twelve hundred inhabitants ; that of San Marino caps the top of a 
high hill or mountain, like many olher towns which one sees on the skirts of the 
Apennines, and has a population of some three thousand souls. And whilst 
Monaco is governed by an hereditary prince, San Marino chooses -her gonfaloniere 
once in six months. 



176 ITALY SINCE THE REFOKMATION. 

however, to believe that the amount of population stated is 
considerably less than it is at the present time. It is given 
from a census taken nearly ten years ago. The actual ag- 
gregate population of all Italy cannot be much short of 
twenty-two millions. 



Names of the States. 


Extent in square miles. 


Population. 


Kingdom of Naples, 


43,052 - 


7,434,300 


Kingdom of Sardinia, 


- 29,534 


- 4,123,000 


Austrian Lombardy, - 


18,450 - 


4,278,902 


Estates of the Church, 


- 17,572 


- 2,592,329 


Grand Duchy of Tuscany, 


8,759 - 


1,275,000 


Duchy of Parma, - 


- 2,253 


437,400 


Duchy of Modena, 


2,145 - 


379,000 


Duchy of Lucca, 


434 


145,000 


San Marino, 


- 44 - 


- 8,400 




122,243 


20,673,331 



The area of Italy is about equal to that of Great Britain 
and Ireland ; but its population is three or four millions less. 

II. Progress of Civilization in Italy since the Reformation, 

In our remarks under this head, we shall use the word 
civilization in its lowest, rather than its highest, acceptation. 
We shall employ it to denote whatever relates to the well- 
being and comfort of society, considered in its temporal con- 
dition and relations, rather than those higher and more 
spiritual interests which should be included in our conceptions 
of the noblest civilization. Taken in this lower sense, then, 
we can have no hesitation in saying, that civilization has 
very considerably advanced in Italy during the last three 
centuries. Let us look at a few particulars. 

1. The external state of society has unquestionably im- 
proved. The laboring classes of the people have better 
abodes, and are more comfortably clothed, than at the epoch 



PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 177 

of the Eeformation. There is much to be desired still, on 
these points. There is a great deal of squalid poverty in 
some parts of Italy, and consequently much suffering. Many 
among the lowest classes have poor and scanty food. Of this, 
their countenances and persons bear testimony which cannot 
deceive. And yet, no one can visit Italy extensively, as we 
have done, in the chilly season of winter and early spring, 
as well as under the scorching suns of August and September, 
without coming to the conclusion that the physical state of 
society in that country has greatly improved within the last 
two or three hundred years, or else the descriptions which 
we read in books, written at that time, were shocking exag- 
gerations. Even within the last hundred years, there has 
been a decided amelioration, of which any one may be con- 
vinced, if he will read the accounts which travellers have 
given us, who wrote at that time. ^ 

There has been a sensible progress within the last fifty 
years, if the statements of persons, who wrote at that period, 
or soon afterwards, are to be received as true. ^ Although, 
in the visits which we made to that country, in the years 
1837 and 1843, we could not but be struck with the appear- 
ance of greater discomfort among the laboring classes there, 
than we meet with among our own people, in the same walks 
of life, yet we must say that our anticipations, on that point, 
were greatly and most agreeably disappointed. We found 
more industry, frugality, tidiness and cheerfulness ; more 
cleanliness, propriety, and apparent comfort in their habita- 
tions, than we had expected. There is still much room for 
improvement, in these particulars ; but not more so than in 

3 The reader, who would examine this subject for himself, is referred to th 
Travels in Italy of Smollett, Sharp, Gray's Letters, John Moore, Brydone, which 
treat more especially of Italy and Sicily as they then were. The Travels of Gilbert 
Burnet, Addison, Wright, and Blainville, though treating mainly of classical sub- 
jects, give also glances at the then state of life and manners of the people. 

4 Lady Morgan, Madame de Stael (in her Corinna)^ Mr. Beckford, and others. 



178 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

those parts of some highly civilized countries of Europe, in 
which there has been unquestionably great advance made 
during the last half century. Even the Lazzaroni at Naples 
are a better clad, better fed, and better behaved people, than 
they were fifty years ago, if one may believe the testimony of 
very worthy and well-informed inhabitants of that city. 

2. There has been a great improvement in the roads, 
which is one evidence of an advancing civilization. In this 
respect, as well as in many others, the dominion of the 
French, which lasted, with but little interruption, from the 
year 1797 to the year 1815, was eminently useful. Pre- 
viously to the former of these epochs, there was scarcely a 
good road in Italy. But the French not only opened some 
five or six admirable macadamized roads from France and 
Switzerland, through the Alps into that country, but they 
also commenced, and would have finished, if they had had 
time, many noble ones in various parts of the entire Peninsula. 
Wherever their influence was felt, there life and vigor were 
imparted to the social system ; nor were good results slow in 
manifesting themselves. Even the old dynasties, upon their 
return from exile, could not avoid catching something of the 
same spirit, and carrying forward the various enterprises 
which had been undertaken in their absence. In consequence 
of this, we now find good roads between all the principal cities 
and most important points of that country. And this improve- 
ment is extending to the vicinal or neighborhood roads also. 
If there is much yet to be desired, let it be remembered that 
much has been done. In Calabria, as well as in the Islands 
of Sicily and Sardinia, the roads are detestable, yet scarcely 
worse than they were in the northern portion of Italy, in the 
middle, and even latter part, of the eighteenth century. 

3. There has also been an unquestionable improvement in 
the agriculture of the country. It is not to be denied that 
many of the agricultural processes of the Italians, are what 



PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION. 179 

we should deem antiquated. Many of their implements and 
machines are exceedingly clumsy. In many places, they 
have much to learn on the subject of reclaiming and renew- 
ing waste and worn-out land. ^ But, notwithstanding all 
this, we were much struck with the marks of slow but cer- 
tain progress. Nor are there wanting associations and indi- 
viduals to encourage this incipient improvement. This is 
particularly the case in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and in 
the Lombardo-Yenetian kingdom. 

No well-informed man can travel throughout Italy, without 
admiring the beauty and resources of almost every portion of 
it. Although a very large part of the Peninsula is covered 
with the broad range of the Apennines, yet there is evidence 
enough to show that, under a wise and good government, and 
in possession of a pure religion, that country might sustain a 
vast population. 

Nothing can be more pleasant than the olive-orchards, and 
the vines in festoons, stretching from tree to tree, as they 
stand in wide rows, amid the growing wheat, corn, and flax. 
The valley of the Po, from the Alps in Piedmont, to the 
Adriatic, is one of the finest countries in the world. And the 
valleys and plains, of various extent, which one sees in the 
Peninsula, as well as in the Islands of Sicily and Sardinia, 
are charming beyond description. How often, -Whilst gazing 
upon them from some mountain's summit, we have been led 
to say of Italy as Heber did of India : — 

* Every prospect pleases, 
And only man is vile.' 



5 In some places, alas, the insane practice of cutting away the small timber, from 
the precipitons sides and steep brows of the hills, has caused the soil to be so com- 
pletely washed away from even the summits, that no art or labor of man can avail to 
render them fruitful again. This is particularly the case in the portion of the pope's 
dominions, through which one passes, when going from Rome up to Pisa or Flo- 
rence. In some parts of our own country, there are not wanting farmers who are 
pursuing the same injurious course. 



/ 



180 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 



III. Progress of the Fine AHs in Italy since the Reformation, 

We have spoken of the progress of civilization in Italy, in 
what is called its lower manifestations. We come now 
to speak of it in what may be denominated its higher 
developments. 

It cannot be denied that the Fine Arts had made much 
progress in Italy before the time of the Reformation* But 
it must also be conceded that those wonderful influences 
which other parts of the world felt to so great a degree, — the 
revival of letters, the action of the press, the discovery of the 
New World, and the opening up of a highway to the commerce 
of the Indies, by doubling the Cape of Good Hope, and the 
augmented spirit of enterprise of which these great discoveries 
were both an effect and a cause, -— exerted a mighty power 
in waking up the energies of the Italian mind. Accordingly, 
we find that the cultivation of the fine arts, in that country, 
in the three centuries which followed, was immensely greater 
than in all time previous. Let us look at a few facts : — 

1. Progress in Architecture. Since the commence- 
ment of the sixteenth century, what proud and costly 
monuments of architecture have been erected in Italy ! We 
can only na^e a few of them. The Cathedral of St. Peter, 
at Rome, was begun before that epoch ; but little had been 
accomplished. Through the reigns of many pontiffs, the 
work was carried forward under the direction of no less than 
fourteen eminent architects, among whom we may mention 
Bramante, Raphael d'Urbino, Michael Angelo, Bernino, and 
Marchionni, to its completion, at a cost of more than fifty 
millions of dollars of our money, without counting the cost of 
the paintings, gilding, mosaics, and the sacristy. The total 
was probably not far short of fifty-five millions of dollars. 
St. Peter's is one of the wonders of the world. The Cathedral 



PROGRESS OF THE FINE ARTS. 181 

of Milan, thougli far inferior to St. Peter's, at Eome, is never- 
theless, a most splendid edifice. It was commenced before 
the epoch which we have mentioned as our starting-point, but 
it was mainly built afterwards. The Church of the Jesuits, at 
Naples, is, in its internal construction and ornaments, one of 
the most remarkable in the world. Many other churches 
might be mentioned as well as palaces, and other public build- 
ings, as admirable specimens of modern architecture in Italy. 
2. Progress in Sculpture. The distinguished sculp- 
tors of Italy are too numerous to be mentioned in a work 
like this. Michael Angelo Buonarotti, Tatti, Bandinelli, 
Cellini, Delia Porta, Bernini, Ferrata, Brunelli, Eusconi, 
Algardi, Lorenzetto, Rossi, Canova, and many others, were 
all eminent in this branch of the fine arts. Some of the 
productions of these great artists are justly reckoned to be 
the finest specimens of modern or Christian art, and demon- 
strate its real superiority over the ancient, or pagan, if we 
may judge of the latter by the remains which we have of it. 
Who can fail to be struck with the spirit, the soulj which 
beams forth in the countenance of Michael Angelo's Moses, 
which is in the Church of Pietro, in Vincoli at Rome, and in 
that of the Jonah of Lorenzetto, which is in the Church of 
Santa Maria del Popolo, also at Rome ? Or, who can avoid 
admiring the virtuous modesty and grace, which are depicted 
in the face of Canova's Venus, in the palace Pitti, at Florence ? 
The ancients may have surpassed the modems in making the 
human form beautiful, for they had freer access to the finest 
models than can ever be had in a Christian country ; but they 
had not present to their view those living specimens of virtue 
and purity, nor did they possess those elevated conceptions 
of perfection, which Christianity alone can give. Their pro- 
ductions were faithful delineations of the humanity with which 
they were conversant ; but they wanted that spiritual beauty 
16 



182 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

which is the highest effort of art. The same remarks may, 
with propriety, be applied to ancient and modern paintings. 

3. Progress in Painting. This branch of the fine 
arts has been extensively cultivated in Italy, since the 
Reformation. That country abounds in the productions of 
the great masters of this art. Public galleries are to be 
found in all the considerable cities, whilst the collections of dis- 
tinguished noblemen and bankers are not only numerous, but 
richer in masterpieces than those of any other country in the 
world. We need mention only a few of those whose names 
stand high on the record of enduring fame. The works of 
Raphael, Giulio Romano, Titian, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, 
the Carraci, Guido Reni, Domenichino, Lanfranco, Caravag- 
gio, ' Manfredi, Spada, Guercino, Carlo Maratto, Giordano, 
Salvator Rosa, and many others, are the admiration of the 
world. Among the Italian painters, of the present century, 
who have distinguished themselves, we may mention Appiani, 
Camoccini, Landi, Grassi, Benvenuti, Bossi, and Agricola. 
In engraving, Longhi, Raphael Morghen, Toschi, Folo, Gar- 
avalgia, Lapi, and Schiavonetti have been among the most 
renowned in modern times. In mosaic painting, Lamberto 
Gori and others have attained great distinction. 

4. Progress in Music. Italy has been more celebrated 
for producing fine singers^ and performers, than superior 
composers of music. Nevertheless, she has furnished many 
of the last-named class, — especially since the commencement 
of the sixteenth century. Among whom we may mention 
Palestrina, AUegri, Corelli, Lulli, Scarlatti, Durante, Por- 
pora, Fenarolli, Cimarosa, Zingarelli, Sachini, Paesiello, 
Salieri, Piccini, Donizetti, Bellini, Rossini, Cherubini, Spon- 
tini. Italian singers and performers are famous throughout 
the civilized world. 

6 Among the most remarkable Italian singers, of our times, have been Madamcs 
Catalani, Boccabadati, Schiasselti, Demeri Pastra, Malibran, and Grisi ; and 
Messieurs. Rubini, Tamburini, and Donzelli. 



STATE OF EDUCATION. 183 

It is a most wonderful and most benevolent arrangement of 
tlie Creator, that a talent for the great branches of the fine 
arts, is so equally diffused among the human race. There 
have been found in all civilized countries, men who have 
displayed a remarkable genius for sculpture, painting, music, 
etc. But there is vast difference in the degree to which this 
capacity has been cultivated. In many countries, where there 
is no want of talent, there has been, from various circum- 
stances, little or no encouragement given to the fine arts. 
In some, especially where there is much political liberty, 
there is too much excitement in public life, to allow men's 
minds to be occupied with the fine arts. In Protestant 
countries, religion seeks but little aid from this source. But 
in Italy, the want of public life, the necessity of seeking 
enjoyment in what has no connection with politics, the luxury 
and idleness which prevail among the wealthier classes, and 
the encouragement which a religion affords, whose essence is 
mainly, at best, mere sentiment, all combine to give to the fine 
arts a high degree of importance. They furnish recreation and 
amusement to the rich, and even, to a greater or less extent, 
to all, save the abject poor. To all, they are made auxiliary 
to devotion ; whilst to many, they furnish their only means 
of subsistence. It is owing to these reasons, that Italy is the 
home of the ^e arts, and that their cultivation has been so 
extensively prosecuted. 

The reader will perceive presently, the connection which 
the cultivation of the fine arts in Italy has with the subject of 
religion in that country. He will then see, that the notice 
which we have just taken of their progress since the Keform- 
ation, has not been an unnecessary digression. 

IV. State of Education in Italy since the Reformation. 

The lower classes of people in Italy are proverbially 
ignorant. In most parts, there has been but little progress, 



184 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

in the matter of popular education, since the epoch of the 
Reformation. We readily admit that there is, probably, no 
portion of that country or of its insular dependencies, in which 
there is not a greater number of persons among the masses 
who can read, than there was three hundred years ago ; for 
civilization, in all its forms, has made considerable progress 
everywhere. But the advance, so far as the education of the 
laboring people, especially of the farming class, is concerned, 
has not been great. This is particularly true of the Islands 
of Sardinia and Sicily, as well as of both the provinces of 
Calabria, and other districts of the peninsular portion of the 
kingdom of Naples. There has been some progress in the 
pope's dominions, in the duchies of Lucca, Modena, Parma, 
and Piedmont; but it has been very little. In all those 
countries, the great majority of the lowest classes of people 
are unable to read. Nor is this ignorance confined to the 
poorer classes. There is a far greater number of people in 
the richer and higher classes, who are uneducated, than we 
should think it possible to find in a country where civilization is 
so ancient, or where there is any civilization at all. Every one 
knows who has sojourned in Italy, and particularly in the 
parts just named, that nothing is more common than to find 
mechanics and tradesmen, who are doing well in the world, 
that cannot read. When we were in Genoa, in the year 
1843, we were told on the best authority, of two ladies in 
the very highest ranks in that city, who could not read a 
word. The ignorance of the males in Italy is very great ; 
but that of the females is far greater. 

We are not aware that any governments in Italy have 
established systems of popular education for the instruction, 
at the public expense, of all classes of youth, save those of 
Tuscany and the Lombardo- Venetian kingdom. In some 
states nothing whatever, so far as we have been able to learn, 
that is worthy of mention, has been done by law. We were 



STATE OF EDUCATION. 185 

assured by a distinguished professor, since deceased, of the 
University of Rome, when we were there for the first time, 
in 1837, that there was no general public provision for the 
education of the children throughout his Holiness' realm, and 
that at least two thirds of them were growing up in complete 
ignorance of letters. '^ Nor is the state of things, in this 
respect, any better in the kingdoms of Sardinia and the Two 
Sicilies. 

In Tuscany and the Austrian Lombardo-Venetian king- 
dom it is different. In the former, the grand duke, who is 
the most enlightened prince in Italy, has done much for the 
education of aU classes of his subjects. Schools exist in all 
the principal villages, which are open to all classes. Gra- 
tuitous schools, on Tuesdays and other holydays, are kept up, 
in which instruction is given, under the eye of the priests, 
particularly in the Catechism of the Roman Catholic Church. 
Through the efforts of several benevolent persons, ^ at Flor- 
ence, Pisa, and Leghorn, Infant Schools have been estab- 
lished in those cities, and maintained, for the most part, by 
the voluntary gifts of the well-disposed, from the grand duke 
down to the humblest individual. Several of the schools 
have been founded for the benefit of the children of the 
Israelites, who reside in considerable numbers in Tuscany, 
especially in the last-named city. ^ 

In the Austrian dominions in Italy, the state of education 
is better than it is in Tuscany, so far as the lowest classes of 
the people are concerned. The government of Austria has, 



7 The pope, by a special bull forbade, a few years ago, the establishment of 
Infant schools in his dominions. 

8 Among whom is Count Guicciardini, an interesting young nobleman, a de- 
scendant of the celebrated historian of the same name. 

9 Many of the eight or ten thousand Jews of Leghorn are rich. One of the syn- 
agogues in that city is by far the most splendid building, in its interior decorations, 
of the kind, that we have ever seen. It is much superior to any thing at Amster- 
dam. 

16* 



1 86 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

for more tlian a quarter of a century, imbibed the spirit of 
internal improvement and education which prevails in Ger- 
many, and which had its origin in Prussia. Nor is the gov- 
ernment of that empire the only Roman Catholic one which 
has caught the sacred flame. Bavaria, Saxony, France, and, 
as we have just seen, Tuscany also, have entered upon the 
same course. 

The Lombardo- Venetian kingdom dates from the year 
1814. During the thirty years which have since passed 
away, the Austrian government has done much for the in- 
struction of all classes of people in this portion of its various 
dominions. Schools have been established in all the com- 
munes, or townships, as well as in the villages and larger 
towns. These schools are of two classes, — the minor and 
superior. In the former, the elements of an education, — 
reading, writing, arithmetic, and religious instruction,' — and 
in the more advanced classes, Italian grammar, calligraphy, 
epistolary composition, the first rudiments of tho Latin, the 
History of the Bible, and especially the lessons of the gospel 
which occur on Sundays and other festivals, are taught. In 
the superior schools, which are mostly in the larger villages 
and towns, instruction is given in the elements of mathe- 
matics, geometry in its application to the arts, drawing, archi- 
tecture, mechanics, geography, physics, and, in some of 
them, history, book-keeping, chemistry, and the French and 
German languages. Religious and moral instruction forms a 
part of every week's studies. This branch of education is 
intrusted solely to the Roman Catholic clergy. There are 
schools also for girls, in which the instruction is adapted to 
the duties and pursuits of the sex. All the teachers have 
been trained in normal schools. Excellent moral and sani- 
tary regulations are enforced, and all corporal punishment is 
forbidden. Cleanliness, health, and propriety of conduct are 






STATE OF EDUCATION. 187 

especially attended to, and the practice of every virtue 
sedulously inculcated. 

Such is the substance oi the account of the school system 
in the Austrian possessions in Italy, which M. Yalery has 
given us. Its good effects have been extolled by Sacchi, 
Aporti, ^^ and other Italian writers. In the year 1832, there 
were two thousand eight hundred and thirty-six schools for 
boys, embracing one hundred and twelve thousand one hun- 
dred and twenty-seven pupils, and one thousand one hundred 
and ninety-nine schools for girls, in which there were fifty- 
four thousand six hundred and forty pupils, — making in all 
four thousand and thirty-five schools, and one hundred and 
eighty-nine thousand scholars of both sexes, — in Lombardy 
alone, in a population of two million three hundred and 
seventy-nine thousand inhabitants. In the other portion of 
the kingdom — namely, the Venetian, containing one million 
nine hundred thousand inhabitants, it was supposed that there 
was as great a number of schools in proportion to the popula- 
tion. ^ Ten or twelve years ago,' says Aporti, in the work 
referred to, ' there were hardly any mistresses in Lombardy 
qualified to keep girls' schools, except in the convents; 
whereas now there are eleven hundred well qualified female 
teachers. Infant schools, holyday schools, and schools of 
industry for artizans, have sprung up in various towns. In 
the province of Cremona there were, in 1837, when we 
visited that city, fifty-nine holyday schools, many of which 
were attended by grown up persons, who thus enjoyed the 
advantages of elementary education. We had the pleasure 
of visiting two interesting infant schools in that city, which 

10 Relazione suite scuole di Lombardia^ e specialmente suite scuole infantUi, In this 
work Aporti speaks in the highest terms of the good moral and social effects which 
the schools of Lombardy have exerted. 



188 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

were commenced and supported by an excellent Roman 
Catholic priest. Would that there were many such. ^^ 

The secondary institutions of education, or those of the 
intermediate gradation, are sufficiently numerous, but are far 
inferior to those of most other countries in Europe, especially 
those of Germany. These are the lyceums and colleges, in 
which the Latin is studied with considerable care, but the 
Greek is almost wholly neglected. Rhetoric and logic are 
studied, chiefly after the old manner, but the exact sciences, 
as well as the languages, the customs, the institutions of other 
countries, receive but little attention. Metaphysics, where 
cultivated, are studied after the rules of the schoolmen, rather 
than those which the common-sense philosophy of the present 
times inculcates. Mathematics are little studied in compari- 
son with the principles of casuistry. 

The most distinguished institutions of the class of which 
we are speaking, are the Collegia Amhrosiana, and the 
Collegia Brera, both of which are at Milan. Even they are 
not conducted on enlarged principles, and owe more of their 
celebrity to the cultivation of classical literature, than to any 
thing else. 

The Universities of Italy are numerous, and most of them 
ancient. Those of Salerno and Bologna were founded in 
the twelfth century ; those of Naples, Padua, and Rome in 
the thirteenth ; those of Perugia, Pisa, Sienna, and Pavia in 
the fourteenth ; those of Turin, Parma, Florence, and Catania 
in the fifteenth ; that of Cagliari was founded, and that of 
Genoa renewed, in the eighteenth. We may add, that the 
University of Modena has been lately reestabhshed, after a 
long period of neglect. 

The course of studies in the Universities of Italy, may be 



11 Sacchi has given much information respecting the schools in Milan, in his 
Quadro Statistico delle Istituzioni di pvblica beneficenza di MUano negli anni 1830, 
1831. 



STATE OF EDUCATION. 189 

pronounced to be, in general, too antiquated to impart that 
knowledge which the advanced state of science demands. 
They have too many of the arts of the schoolmen, and too 
obsolete a manner of communicating instruction, to accom- 
plish all that universities of this age should perform. Nev- 
ertheless, the universities of Pavia and Padua maintain their 
ancient reputation for Medicine, and the other branches of 
natural science, and have many able professors. Pisa ranks 
next to them. In fact, talent is not so much wanting in any 
of them, as systems adapted to the present times. 

The literary institutions in Italy, which have shared most 
largely the spirit of the times, are those scientific bodies 
which are called Academies. These sprang up in the 
fifteenth century, and have increased to such a degree, that 
one or more of them, is to be found in every principal city in 
that country. Founded for various, and for the most part, 
special studies and inquiries, and organized on a plan that, not 
only admits, but even requires considerable freedom of dis- 
cussion, they have done far more than the universities to 
elicit talent, cultivate and encourage useful speculation, 
liberalize the feelings, and augment practical knowledge. 

One of the most famous of these institutions is the Academia 
delta Crusca^ at Florence, whose object is to perfect the 
Italian language. The Imperial Institution at Milan, and 
the Academy of Sciences at Turin, are the most flourishing 
of all the Italian academies, of the present day. The insti- 
tutions for the promotion of the fine arts are numerous, and 
are connected with schools in which painting, sculpture, and 
architecture are taught by competent, and in many cases 
distinguished professors. The most celebrated and useful 
of these are at Bologna, Pome, and Florence. 

Italy abounds in collections of books, and valuable manu- 
scripts, but its libraries are greatly deficient in works of 
modern literature and science. The most celebrated of these 



190 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

libraries, are that of the Vatican at Rome, the Ambrosian at 
Milan, that of St. Mark in Venice, and those of the Maglia- 
bechi and the Medici, at Florence. 

In all the large cities there are museums of great value, 
which are thrown open, with a laudable liberality, to the 
public. Many of the noblemen possess extensive collections 
of paintings, statuary, antiques, etc., which are easy of access 
to respectable strangers. The public picture galleries are 
numerous and rich. Many of the churches contain fine 
specimens of sculpture and painting, especially those of Rome, 
Florence, Naples, Bologna, Venice, and Genoa. There are 
extensive botanic gardens, attached to several of the univer- 
sities and larger cities ; and astronomical observatories exist 
in Padua, Milan, Florence, and Palermo. 

V. The State of Literature in Italy since the Reformation. 

Under this head, we include poetry as well as literature in 
general. 

From 1500 to 1650, has been reckoned the Augustan age 
of Italian literature. During that period lived and wrote, in 
theology, Cajetan, Baronio, Bellarmin, and Sarpi; in 
science, Telesio, Bruno, Campanella, Cardanus, Galileo, Cav- 
alieri, Castelli, Grimaldi, Delia Porta, Malpighi, Aldrovandi, 
Colonna, Torricelli, Bellini ; in history, Bembo, Pallavicino, 
Guicciardini, Macchiavelli, Davila, Bentivoglio ; in politics, 
Sansoverino and Botero ; in philology, Robertelli, Vittorio, 
Ursino, and J. C. Scaliger ; in criticism, Bembo, Tolommei, 
Varchi, and Foglietta ; in poetry, Ariosto, Berni, Bernardo 
Tasso, and his more illustrious son Torquato, Guarini, 
Filicaia, and Andreini. These are some of the authors of 
that period, who were distinguished. 

The next period of one hundred and fifty years, from 1650 
to 1800, was far less prolific in great writers, so far as Italy 
is concerned. One cause of this was unquestionably the 



STATE OF LITERATURE. 191 

prevalence of wars, which, particularly in the latter part of 
the seventeenth century, and the former part of the eighteenth, 
agitated and distressed that country. But another, and far 
more influential, was the restrictions on the freedom of 
thought, and of the press, under which Italy groaned. The 
third was the loss of commerce, and the consequent decrease 
of wealth, which affected directly and indirectly all classes. 
To these may be added, the general depravation of morals, 
which in this time seemed to reach its acme, and which was 
alike destructive to physical, moral, and mental vigor. During 
this period, there flourished a considerable number of authors, 
who wrote with much ability on natural history, science, and 
medicine; such as Frisi, Mascheroni, Fontana, Ruffini, 
Cassino, Torelli, Eedi, Yolta, Manfredi, Valsalva, Morgagni, 
Rammaini, Borelli, etc. ; in jurisprudence, Beccaria and 
Filangieri were distinguished ; in history, Gianone, Denina, 
Muratori, Tiraboschi, Maffei were the most celebrated ; in 
Latin and Greek literature, Yolpi, Facciolato, Targa, For- 
cellini, Mazocchi, and Morelli were the most eminent ; in phi- 
losophy, Yico, Stellini, and Genovesi were preeminent ; in 
poetry, there were few who deserve mention ; among whom, 
however, Riccoboni, Goldoni, Metastasio, and Alfieri are the 
best known. 

During the present century, the genius of Italy seems to 
have revived, at least, so far as some departments of litera- 
ture are concerned. In natural history, mathematics, and the 
exact sciences she has produced, during this period, many 
able men, of whom we may mention Delia Cella, Brocchi, 
Bordoni, Zamboni, Ranconi, Monticelli, and Brunatelli. In 
history. Carlo Botta, Micali, Bossi, Cuoco, Coletta, Pignotti, 
Manno, and Serra are the most distinguished. Ugoni and 
Lucchesini have written ably on Italian literature ; Cicognara, 
on the history of sculpture; Gioja, on political economy; 
Romagnosi and Tamburini on jurisprudence. In poetry, 



192 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

Italy has produced in this century some authors of great 
merit, such as Monti, Pellico, Niccolini, Grossi, Sestini, 
Berchet, Arici, D'Elci, Nota, and Manzoni. The last-named 
author is the Walter Scott of that country. He is a univer- 
sal genius, excelling at once, as a philosopher, novelist, 
dramatist, and lyric poet. In his / Promessi Sposi, he has 
given Italy the most perfect model of a historical romance. 
His son-in-law, the Marquis Massimo d'Azeglio, in his Ettore 
Fieramosca, and Professor Kossini, in his Monaca di Monza^ 
have followed in his footsteps with success. Among the dis- 
tinguished Italian writers of this period, we must also place 
Foscolo, IppoUito Pindemonte, Napione, Cesari, and Gior- 
dani. 

In the year 1819, a literary journal, entitled the Conciliatore, 
was commenced at Milan, of which Silvio Pellico was editor, 
and to whose pages Gioja, Romagnosi, Pessi, Pecchio, the 
Marquis Hermes Yisconti, the Counts dal Pozzo and Gio- 
vanni Arrivabene, Pasori, Plana, Carlini, Mussotti, Ugoni, 
Sclavini, Ludovico di Breme, Borsieri, Maronchelli, and 
other able writers contributed. This journal was suppressed 
by the Austrian government in 1820, and several of its con- 
tributors, as well as its editor, were condemned to the prison 
of Spielberg. ^^ And, although its career was short, the 
Conciliatore exercised a decidedly happy influence. One 
of the great objects which its founders had in view, was to 
infuse a more Christian spirit into the literature of Italy, 
which had, in fact, for a long time, partaken largely of an 
infidel character. Another, was to promote the regeneration 
of the country. ' Through this journal,' to use the language 
of one of their number, ' they hoped to give a new literary 
direction to the intellect; or, in other words, to restore letters 



12 For an interesting account of the imprisonment of Silvio Pellico, and his 
companions, the reader is referred to his Prisons^ with the Additions, by Piero 
Maronchelli, published in Cambridge, Mass., in two volumes, in the year 1836. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION. 193 

to their pure and primarj end, that is to say, to lead to the 
true hy means of the beautiful: A noble patriotism seems to 
have actuated this able corps of writers, for they entered at 
once into admirable plans for promoting education, agriculture, 
and the useful arts. But, alas, their projects were soon in- 
terrupted, and, for indulging in them, some of their little circle 
were called to long years of cruel suffering in the gloomy 
dungeons of a prison. ^^ 

It is, however, an interesting fact, that both literary and 
political journals have greatly increased in numbers, during 
the present century, notwithstanding the heavy restrictions on 
the freedom of the press. Including every description, there 
are now fully two hundred periodicals, newspapers, maga- 
zines, etc., in Italy, and some of them are conducted with 
much ability, especially those of a purely scientific and 
literary character. 

VI. Political and Social Condition of Italy at present. 

We have described, in the former part of this chapter, the 
political changes and revolutions through which Italy has 
passed since the Reformation. We propose now to say a few 
words respecting the present governments of that country, 
and the effects which they have produced on the social 
condition of the people. 

From what we haye already said, the reader has learned 
two important facts in relation to the governments of Italy. 

First, that every vestige of political freedom has disap- 
peared. Venice, after an existence of fourteen centuries, 
ceased in 1798, and is now annexed to the dominions of 
Austria. Genoa forms a constituent part of the Sardinian 
monarchy. Florence, Pisa, Sienna, Ferrara, and all the other 



13 Mr. Maronchelli has given a full notice of the Condliatore^ andits supporters, in 
his Additions to the work of Silvio Pellico, entitled My Prisons. 

17 



194 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

free cities which arose between the tenth century and the 
seventeenth, have ceased to be republics, or rather republican 
oligarchies, if we may use a designation which better befitted 
them, and are swallowed up in the modern political organi- 
zations of the country. Excepting the little republic of San 
Marino, there is not a particle of popular liberty in all Italy, 
at this moment. Nor is there any thing whatever in the 
shape of a written constitution, or compact, defining the 
powers of the ruler, and the rights of the subject. 

Second, that consolidation has greatly advanced in the 
governments of that country, within the last three hundred 
years. The states are fewer in number, and larger in extent. 
This change, under well regulated governments, would augui* 
good for the interests of truth and humanity ; but under a 
despotic and corrupt dominion, it becomes eminently disas- 
trous to both. The time has been when those who were per- 
secuted for righteousness' sake, in one part of Italy, could 
find refuge in some other ; for the states and principalities of 
that country were then numerous, often hostile to each other, 
and very unequally submissive to the Bishop of Rome. It is 
far otherwise at present. 

Of all the governments of Italy, that of Tuscany is reported 
to be the best. The reigning grand duke has the reputation 
of being a wise and humane ruler. He is a man of unosten- 
tatious manners ; and is, unquestionably, the most popular 
prince in Italy. He is greatly beloved by his people, 
and seems to strive to challenge their afiection by his zeal 
in promoting their welfare. Possessed of large private 
resources, as well as an ample and honorable maintenance 
from the state, he can afford to patronize the arts, and foster 
genius. But if the government of Tuscany is more tolerable 
than that of the other states of Italy, it is wholly owing to the 
character of the reigning prince, and not to its own nature. 
Like all the other sovereigns of that country, the grand duke, 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION. 195 

Leopold II., is perfectly absolute. That he is disposed to 
govern his people with kindness and justice is a fact in which 
humanity rejoices, whilst an extensive knowledge of mankind 
demands better guarantees for the rectitude of government, 
than the dispositions of its head. 

Next to Tuscany, the Austrian possessions in Italy are, we 
believe, the best governed. It may be that the yoke is hard 
to bear ; but it can hardly be denied that the Austrian gov- 
ernment looks well after the material interests of its subjects 
in that country. It forbids, indeed, and punishes in the 
severest manner, their interference with politics, and trans- 
ports those whom it suspects of desiring revolution to the 
dungeons of Spielberg in Moravia ; but to all others it ex- 
tends the protection of its powerful aegis, and even watches 
over them, it is maintained by its friends, with a paternal 
eye. Whatever may be the wishes of the present emperor 
(and we have never heard him accused of being cruel in his 
disposition) or of his very able prime Minister, Prince Met- 
temich, it is very certain that the subordinate officers of the 
Austrian government in Italy, judicial and executive, have 
displayed a severity which is disreputable to any civilized 
government in the nineteenth century. We shall have, 
however, to speak, in another part of this work, of some 
recent acts of the emperor, which are highly honorable to 
him as a man and a ruler, as well as to those who counselled 
him. 

The worst governments in Italy are, confessedly, those of 
the Two Sicilies, the Estates of the Church, Sardinia, and 
Modena. Even where all are bad, there are usually degrees 
of badness ; and tyranny itself is seldom uniform in its atro- 
ciousness. But it would be really difficult to say in which of 
the above-named countries the people are most effectually 
trodden into the dust by the iron heel of despotism. All are 
priest-ridden to the utmost degree. The government of the 



196 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

pope is in the hands entirely of ecclesiastics, and is the only 
one in Christendom which is professedly so. And surely the 
world is not likely to be converted to the belief of the excel- 
lence of such a form of dominion. If there be a government 
on earth which is imbecile, incapable, and oppressive, it is 
that of the pope. Nothing flourishes in his dominions save 
beggary. The very face of nature, both south and north of 
the Eternal City, bears the visible impress of the curse of the 
Almighty. And everywhere throughout the papal domin- 
ions, commerce and trade stagnate, the people groan under 
intolerable burdens, and ignorance and poverty prevail 
among the lower classes. 

The government of Naples is less inefficient than that of 
Rome, but quite as onerous, and equally detested. Sardinia 
is priest-ridden almost beyond the pope's kingdom itself, 
though the king, it is believed, left to himself, would be dis- 
posed to do what is right. But as to Modena, its reigning 
duke is, probably, personally more odious than any other 
prince in all Italy. 

Of the petty rulers, the Duke of Lucca is tolerably re- 
spected, though his subjects are far from being well satisfied. 
He is, we believe, a humane man, and disposed to promote 
the best interests of his little dominions as far as he knows 
how. As to the Duchess of Parma, Maria Louisa, she has 
not the reputation of giving herself much solicitude respect- 
ing affairs of state. In the embraces of two husbands 
she has sought consolation for the loss of Napoleon ; and in 
the midst of her luxurious pleasures finds safety in the Aus- 
trian bayonets of her brother, which surround her. 

It is not to be denied that the unfortunate movements in 
Piedmont and Lombardy, in 1820, and those in Parma, Mo- 
dena, the Estates of the Church, and the kingdom of the 
Two Sicilies, in 1831 and 1832, did much to rivet the chains 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION. 197 

of the Italians. And however much they may feel the 
galling servitude in which, they live, there is not the least 
prospect of emancipation until France shall come to their 
aid. 

In the mean while restlessness prevails almost everywhere. 
Secret associations ramify throughout the whole country. 
The Giovanne Italia — as the patriotic band of those who 
seek the deliverance of their country is called — numbers 
many thousands of members. It holds correspondence with 
exiled compatriots, who reside in Switzerland, France, En- 
gland, and other lands, and impatiently wait for the day of 
their country's redemption. That day will come ; but those 
who desire it ought to know, that their efforts should be unre- 
mittingly directed towards doing all that is practicable, be it 
little or be it much, for the moral regeneration of the nation, 
by the grand means which God has appointed, the reading of 
the Sacred Scriptures, and the preaching of the pure gospel. 

Such is the severity of the censorship of the press in Italy, 
that it is only in indirect ways that the grief as weU as the in- 
dignation of the oppressed people can find expression. In all 
periods of the world, the enslaved have had to employ alle- 
gory, fable, and apologue, in order to utter those unpalatable 
truths which they dared not to express plainly. Sometimes 
ancient events are brought forward to characterize those which 
are modem, and provoke to the needed resistance. Such is 
the course which is pursued at present by the enemies of des- 
potism in Italy. Niccolini in his recent tragedy, entitled Ar- 
naldo da Brescia^ depicts, in the strongest colors, the corruption 
and profligacy of the spiritual and temporal powers by which 
his beautiful country is desolated, whilst relating the heroic and 
patriotic conduct, as well as the unfortunate end, of one who 
resisted tyranny unto death in the. twelfth century. He has 
executed his task with singular ability. Nor will his vivid 
17* 



198 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

delineations of the present oppression and insolence of their 
spiritual and secular tyrants, though he professedly writes of 
what occurred six hundred years ago, fail to make an endur- 
ing impression on the minds of his numerous readers. 

In fact the resemblance which, in some respects, the 
present state of things in Italy bears to that which existed in 
the twelfth century, is in the highest degree striking. Not 
only does the same vice of venality and the same depravation 
of morals exist among the clergy and the masses of the 
people now which did then, but there is the same union 
among the secular and spiritual rulers to uphold corruption, 
and resist all attempts at reformation, religious or political. 
The bishops and cardinals are taken^ generally, from the 
families of the rich and the noble ; and when they are not, 
they are soon incorporated, by one means or another, into the 
society of those who have conspired to keep the people in a 
state of entire subjection to their spiritual and temporal 
rulers. It is remarkable, too, that the emperors of Austria 
have had, in our day, the same longing desire for dominion 
in Italy, that the emperors of Germany had six hundred 
years ago. And the reigning Ferdinand is as ready to extend 
his paternal regards to that land as was Frederick Barba- 
rossa. And it is equally true that the pope, whilst he feels 
his need of Austrian protection, detests it, and curses the 
state of dependence in which he is forced to live. The Aus- 
trian rule is as much abhorred now as was the German then. 
And Italy, if she has in our day her Ghibelines, or friends of 
the Austrian dominion, has also her Guelfs, who detest it. ^* 

It has been the doom of Italy, ever since the downfall of 



14 The influence of Austria is as great in Italy in our times, as was that of Ger- 
many in the middle ages. The imperial family is allied, by blood or by marriage, 
to almost every ruling family in that country, as any one may see who will take 
the trouble to examine. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION. 199 

the Roman empire, to be the prey of the foreigner. And 
the language of Filicaja is as applicable at the present time, 
as it was when the beautiful sonnet which contains it was 
written in the seventeenth century. 

' Italia! oh Italia! Thou whom fate 

Gifted with mournful beauty, and thereby 

Hast the sad lot of infinite misery 
Imprest upon thy face, unfortunate ! 
Would thou less lovely wert, thy strength more great ; 

That strangers, whom the bright beams of thine eye 

Seem to consume, and yet thy sword defy. 
Should love thee less, else fear thy powerful state. 
That from the Alps such torrents should not flow 

Of armies ; nor the flocks of Gallia come 
To drink the blood-stained waters of the Po ; 

Nor, armed with a stranger's sword, his home 
Defend, with thine own hand, against his foe ; 

Ever to serve, conquering or overcome. ^^ 

The translation given above is as literal as possible. 
In the forty-second and forty-third stanzas of the Fourth 
Canto of Childe Harold, Lord Byron has given the following 
beautiful, though very free, translation of this celebrated 
sonnet. 



15 ' Italia, Italia, o tu, cui feo la sorte 
Dono infelice di bellezza, ond 'hai 
Funesta dota d' infiniti guai, 
Che in fronte scritti per gran doglia porte : 
Deh fossi tu men bella, o almen piu forte, 
Onde assai piu ti paventasse, o assai 
T' amasse men chi del tuo bello a' rai 
Par che si slrugga, e pur ti sfida a morte? 
Che giu dall' Alpi non vedrei torrenti 
Scender d' armati, ne di sangue tinta 
Bever P onda del Po gallici armenti ; 
Ne te vedrei del non tuo ferro cinta 
Pugnar col braccio di straniere genti, 
Per servir sempre, o vincitrice o vinta.' 



200 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

' Italia ! oh Italia ! Thou who hast 
The fatal gift of beauty, which became 
A funeral dower of present woes and past, 
On thy sweet brow is sorrow ploughed by shame, 
And annals graved in characters of flame. 
O, God ! that thou wert in thy nakedness 
Less lovely or more powerful, and couldst claim 
Thy right, and awe the robbers back, who press 
To shed thy blood, and drink the tears of thy distress. 

' Then might 'st thou more appall ; or, less desired, 
Be homely and be peaceful, undeplored 
For thy destructive charms ; then, still untired, 
Would not be seen the armed torrents poured 
Down the deep Alps ; nor would the hostile horde 
Of many-nationed spoilers from the Po 
Quaff blood and water ; nor the stranger's sword 
Be thy sad weapon of defence, and, so, 
Victor or vanquished, thou the slave of friend, or foe.' 

As to the social condition of the masses in Italy, it cannot 
be denied that it is any thing else than prosperous or happy. 
The restrictions which a narrow-minded, short-sighted policy 
has imposed on commerce, both domestic and foreign, has 
prevented the inhabitants of the large cities and towns, with 
few exceptions, from having the means of growing rich; 
whilst the farmers, who are mostly tenants, and generally 
cultivate but a few acres, are so oppressed with excessive 
rents and taxes, that they can scarcely do more than support, 
even with the most extraordinary frugality, their families. 
The large military forces, which even the pettiest states 
in that country maintain, together with the great number of 
those who hold civil offices, render these governments op- 
pressive beyond any thing of which we have a conception. 



16 



16 



_. Even the Successor of the Fisherman has a standing army of from sixteen 
thousand to twenty-two thousand men, according to circumstances, of whom six 
thousand are Swiss ! 



SOCIAL CONDITION. 201 

In addition to all this, comes the expense of supporting a vast 
Church establishment, with its pope, its cardinals, its bishops, 
its secular and regular clergy, its seminaries and its monastic 
institutions. And although very many of the churches and 
of the monasteries are richly endowed, yet these very endow- 
ments are so much wealth withdrawn from the possession of 
the people. From all these causes, it results that the masses 
of the laboring people are weighed down with burdens which 
they are not able to bear, and kept in a state bordering upon 
desperate poverty. That such a state of things is eminently 
unfavorable to the interests of true religion and sound 
morality, as well as all proper happiness, is too obvious to 
require an attempt to prove. 

It is the common representation of travellers who visit 
Italy, who see mostly but a small portion of it, and seldom 
take any thing more than a superficial view of what they do 
see, that the people are an indolent, improvident, and vicious 
race. As to the moral character and condition of the inhab- 
itants of that land, we shall have occasion to speak of it in the 
next chapter, where we shall discuss the subject of the state 
of religion. We shall confine ourselves at present to the 
charge of indolence and improvidence. And we have no 
hesitation in asserting, that the Italians are not the lazy herd 
they that have been accused of being. On the contrary, 
taken as a whole, they are a laborious, frugal, and patient 
people. Their nature leads to activity; and no people 
in the world, probably, display so much vivacity. And, 
warm as the climate is, in some parts, it is manifest, from the 
position of the country, that it cannot have a very enervating 
atmosphere. History proves that it had no such effeminating 
influence upon the ancient Romans, who for so many cen- 
turies governed entirely the then civilized world. The 
Italians may, especially in the kingdom of Naples, and the 
Estates of the Church, be called an idle people, but not an 



202 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

indolent one. And if they are idle, it is because of their 
having, under their wretched government, so little induce- 
ment or opportunity to work. Even the Lazzaroni of 
Naples would labor, if they could find any thing to do. No 
men are more willing, or more prompt, to execute a commis- 
sion, or perform a job, when one presents itself to them. Of 
this we have often had ocular demonstration. But, alas, in 
the stagnation of exterior commerce, the restrictions on inte- 
rior trade, and the insupportable burdens which rest upon 
agriculture and every species of handicraft, who can wonder 
that the people are idle, since, indeed, they find so little that 
they can do ? Certainly no philanthropist can visit that 
country, and see its naturally interesting, fine-looking, active, 
witty, talented population, without feelings of distress, or 
without offering up a prayer to heaven, that the days may 
come in which their country will be disenthralled and regen- 
erated ; and when an active, well-rewarded, and all-pervading 
industry will shed its blessings upon every part of that 
fairest of all lands. ^^ 



17" In the year 1840, we believe it was, the British Parliament appointed a com- 
mittee to make certain inquiries in relation to manufactures. In the prosecution 
of the task assigned to it, that committee summoned before it some of the most dis- 
tinguished practical manufacturers in the United Kingdom. The testimony of these 
gemlemen, on many points, was very remarkable. One of the questions propounded 
related to the relative quickness for comprehending and carrying into operation the 
most difficult processes in the arts, which workmen of the various nations in Europe 
display. The answer was, — and unanimously, if we remember rightly, — that 
the Italians were decidedly the first for quickness of apprehension and skill in 
application, of all ; and that the French and Spanish were next, the Swiss next, 
the Scotch next, the Germans next, and the English amongst the last. 



CHAPTER n. 

STATE OF RELIGION IN ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

We have stated, in the first part of this work, the fact that 
the Reformed doctrines, which for a few years spread so 
rapidly and extensively in Italy, were at length extirpated. 
We have also indicated some of the means by which this 
disastrous result was achieved. But we propose to revert to 
this subject for the sufficient reason, that the causes which 
affected the suppression of the Reformation in Italy are those 
which have retained that country in the darkness in which it 
has ever since remained. Let us look at them in detail : — 

I. Rome at length awakes to a sense of the Danger which 

menaces her. 

The Reformation was the third great movement which 
threatened destruction to the Church of Rome. Age after 
age had passed away, since the Bishop of the ' City on the 
Seven Hills' had begun to enforce his claims to universal 
dominion. The edifice, which spiritual ambition had early 
begun to found, gradually arose. Its immense walls and 
lofty towers, reposing on foundations which it had required 
the toil of many successive pontiffs to lay, at length became 
so elevated as to be visible from afar. The distant bishops, 
as well as the most powerful princes, had found it vain to 
resist a power to which they found themselves unequal ; and 
two centuries and more had passed away since the last note 
of opposition had ceased to be heard. But at length Rome 



204 ITALY SINCE THE KEFORMATION. 

found that tlie seeds of what she was pleased to denominate 
the ' Paulician heresy/ springing up with those of primitive 
Christianity, were covering the beautiful country lying be- 
tween the Alps and the Pyrenees, embracing the rich valleys 
of the Rhone, and the Garonne, the plains of Narbonne and 
Toulouse, and the vine-clad hills of the Cevennes, with an 
abundant harvest. In this fine region, by far the fairest at 
that time in all Western Europe, where civilization and 
letters had made incomparably the greatest progress. Truth, 
through the efforts of the sect of Christians called the Albi- 
genses, ^^ had silently but widely spread its influences. At 
length, Rome aroused herself to the task of extirpating, for 
the first time, heresy within her own bosom by means of war. 
A series of crusades was commenced against these excellent 
and harmless people, who had committed no offence, save 
that — which, however, was unpardonable — of adhering to 
the primitive Faith. After many and long years, the arms 
of Simon de Monfort, and the kings of France, Louis YIII. 
and Louis IX., triumphed over the forces of the counts of 
Toulouse and the king of Arragon. The entire country 
having been conquered by the joint armies of the popes and 
the king of France, and made a constituent part of that king- 
dom, the Inquisition, which had been invented expressly for 
this task, was diligently worked by the followers of St. 
Dominic, at their leisure, but with an unerring effect, to 
extirpate the remains of heresy. ^^ 

18 There has been no little dispute among the learned about the orig-in of the name 
Albig-eois, or Albigenses. But the most reasonable opinion seems to be, that it is 
derived from Albi, a town in Languedoc, where those who professed this Faith 
were very numerous. 

19 It is not often that the young warrior, who has not yet become accustomed to 
the taste of blood, attains to perfection in the very outset of his career in the work 
of human butchery. But Rome has never since done any thing which has 
surpassed her bloody cruelty in this her first effort to extirpate heresy within 
her own bosom, much as she has done that is execrable. If any man doubt 
this, let him read the admirable work of the late learned Sismondi, on this 8ub- 



HOME AWAKES. 205 

At length the work of blood was finished ; and, after the 
middle of the thirteenth century, the Albigenses existed no 
more, save in the valleys in Dauphiny and Piedmont, 
whither those who had escaped death fled, to find protection 
and sympathy among the poor Waldenses. And now another 
long night settled down upon the Christian world, during 
which papal power and papal arrogance reached their apogee. 
The emperors of Germany, after having long resisted the 
encroachments of the Church, had been forced to succumb. 
But at length the patience of mankind became exhausted, 
^ and a reaction against the despotism of Rome began to set in. 
Philip lY., commonly called Philip le Bel, of France, as cold 
and stern a despot as ever sat on the throne of that country, 
resisted successfully the arrogant claims of Boniface VIII., 
whom his general, Nogaret, seized, maltreated, and even im- 
prisoned, ' — treatment which caused the enraged pontiff to 
die of chagrin. Then came the ' Great Schism of the West.' 
For seventy years, a rival line of popes, at Avignon, in 
France, anathematized those of Rome, and were in turn 
themselves excommunicated by those of the Eternal City. 
%But whilst the people were at a loss which of the two worth- 
less priests who were cursing each other, to acknowledge as 
the head of the Church, Wickliff began to make his voice 
heard in England. And soon the Truth from his lips was 
echoed back from the mountains of Bohemia in Germany. 
Thousands upon thousands flocked to her standard, and Rome 

ject. Hundreds of thousands of persons were put to death in the most shock- 
ing- manner. The wanton cruehy, which was exhibited at the capture of Be- 
ziers, and in the entire destruction of its 60,000 inhabitants, is without a parallel. 
Both Catholics and ' heretics' met with the same indiscriminating fate. When the 
commanding general desired to know how his soldiers should distinguish between 
the faithful and their enemies, so as to spare the former and kill the latter, upon his 
taking the place, the legate of the pope replied ": — ' Kill all ; God will recognize his 
own in the day of judgment.' The soldiers acted upon this advice, and all, with- 
out exception, were killed ! Simon de Monfort, and Louis A'^IIL, themselves met 
the fate they so richly merited ; one was killed in a battle with the ' heretics' in 1218, 
the other iji 1226. 

18 



206 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

began again to tremble, as she had done one hundred and 
fifty years before, at the progress of the new heresy. Agam 
she put forth her energies, and again Truth was compelled 
to yield. England persecuted the Lollards, and the Council 
of Constance, aided in the enforcement of its decisions by the 
emperor of Germany, gave a fatal blow to the incipient 
Reformation. John Huss and Jerome, of Prague, died as 
martyrs, and Rome triumphed once more. And now another 
night of gloom commenced, and prevailed an hundred years, 
save where the light of Truth dimly shone in the rude valleys 
of Piedmont, and of Bohemia. During this period of quiet, 
the popes put off the harness, and sought repose amid the 
luxurious enjoyments of the palace, indulging in the pleasures 
of taste, of the fine arts, of literature, and in the charms of 
elegant society, of accomplished and beautiful women, and of 
scholars of extensive and polite attainments. 

Again was the voice of the Reformer heard, and Rome 
grew pale the third time. Zuingle in Switzerland, and 
Luther in Germany, summoned Christendom to throw off the 
chains of a galling superstition, and accept the freedom 
which the Son of God bestows upon all who put their trust in 
Him. Nor was the summons issued in vain. Those who 
loved the Truth in every land, hastened to gather around her 
unfurled banner. The oppressed of every rank, — king, 
prince, baron, vassal, — hastened thither also. For men were 
tired of the yoke of Rome. Great was the progress of 
emancipation. Millions of men, — in Germany, Denmark, 
Norway, Sweden, Livonia, Holland, England, Scotland, 
Switzerland, Hungary, France, — embraced, for one reason 
or another, the cause of the Reformation. The Truth spread, 
as we have seen, even into Italy, and invaded the Eternal 
City itself. 

But what was to be done ? For awhile Rome stood aghast. 
Indecision marked all her proceedings. This period, however, 



ROME AWAKES. 207 

was not long. Her whole policy must be entirely changed. 
Her luxurious and amiable Leo X., and his immediate 
successors, were not the men to meet the trying exigency of 
the times. Hearts of sterner mould, and hands of greater 
strength, were imperatively demanded. No weak, vacillating, 
cowardly priest was worthy to sit at the helm and guide 
the shattered bark of St. Peter. Men of an iron energy 
were required for the chair of the Fisherman, during this 
tempestuous period. And such a man was found in the per- 
son of Gian Pietro Caraffa, the Theatine ^ monk, of whom 
we have already spoken, and who ascended the papal throne 
under the name of Paul the Fourth. Caraffa was every way 
the man for the occasion. The glorious Eeformation was 
triumphing in the north of Europe, and threatened even to 
spread extensively in the south. There was no time to be 
lost in choosing well-adapted measures to check it, and their 
application must be prompt. These measures must be ade- 
quate to the emergency, and carried into effect with no falter- 
ing hand. A great reformation in doctrine was going on in 
the north ; a great reformation in discipline and manners 
must go on in the south, or all would be lost. Caraffa set the 
example. He lived like a hermit in the palace on the 
Quirinal Hill. Neither the allurements of literature and 
science, nor the pleasures of elegant society could divert his 
mind from attempting to save the almost half-destroyed 
Church. New life was infused into all the old religious 

20 The Theaiines are a religious order of regular priests, founded in 1524, by this 
same Caraffa, who was bishop of Chieti (anciently Theate)^ Avhence their name. 
The members of this order, in addition to the ordinary monastic vows, (of celibacy, 
poverty, etc.) bound themselves to preach against heretics, to take charge of the 
cure of souls, to attend the sick and criminals, and to trust entirely to Providence 
for their support. They engaged to own no property, and not even to collect 
alms, but to depend upon the voluntary gifts of the pious. They were an order 
of preaching monks, and soon obtained great repute. They are, even now, 
numerous in Italy, and particularly Naples, and are to be found in other coun- 
tries. They rendered immense service to the pope in laboring to suppress the 
Reformation. 



208 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

orders, the Benedictines, the Augustinians, the Dominicans, 
the Franciscans, etc. etc. 

11. The old Religious Orders purified and enlarged^ and 

new ones created. 

All the older orders had lost much of their primitive sim- 
plicity and efficiency. Many of them had numerous monas- 
teries, churches, and members. Wealth had flowed in upon 
them from the coffers of rich devotees, many of whom, 
after a life of sinful indulgence, were quite willing when death 
approached, to settle the claims of heaven by liberal bequests 
to found churches, endow monasteries, and otherwise increase 
the grandeur and the riches of the Spouse of Christ. The 
admission of lay-brothers into the monasteries, whilst it formed 
a link which connects them more directly with the world, 
unquestionably introduced into them more extensively the 
spirit of the world, Every where discipline had become 
relaxed, both in the monasteries and the convents. ^^ A 
return to the strictness of former discipline and manners was 
eminently necessary, before the regular clergy, with the cor- 
responding female orders, could be effective in resisting the 
widely-spreading doctrines and practices of the Reformation. 
Paul IV., and his immediate successor, Pius Y., were just the 
men to bring this about. The former brought to the papal 
chair all the zeal which he possessed when he entered the 
monastery as a Theatine monk. The latter was capable of 
the severest austerities, both for the sake of his own soul, and 
as an example to the faithful. Both could walk barefooted 
in a procession through the streets of Rome. Both com- 
plained that their duties as chiefs of the Church left them so 
little time for the cultivation of personal piety. And both 

21 AVe here use the word monastery to designate an establishment of monks, and 
the word convent to denote one of nuns — a distinction which is not always made in 
the use of these words. 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 209 

set the most edifying examples of cliarity, humility, and 
forgiveness of injuries ; whilst they maintained the autliority 
of the Holy See, and the unadulterated doctrines of the 
Church, with an undaunted courage. They possessed the 
spirit and character of Dunstan and Becket, and were but 
little inferior in zeal, for the prerogatives of Rome, to Hilde- 
brand himself. Gregory XIII. was emulous of the severe 
virtues of his predecessor, Pius Y., and carried on the reform 
which he and Paul TV, had commenced. Nor were these 
efforts made in vain. The change, which began in Rome, 
was felt in its vivifying and reforming influence to the re- 
motest parts of the Roman Catholic world. 

We have spoken of the Theatines, who were an order 
created for the purpose of supplying the deficiencies of the 
secular or parochial clergy. They were a sort of irregular 
corps of cavalry, bound to appear on the spots where they 
were the most needed. As they were not under the control 
of the bishops, but were bound to go whithersoever their 
chief might send them, they fought against the common foe 
with singular freedom from all the embarrassing influences 
which the parish clergy might feel in being subject to the 
supervision of their spiritual lords. 

The order of the Capuchins was founded in the year 1528, 
by one Matteo di Bassi. They are a branch of the Fran- 
ciscans, and were for a long time considered the strictest of 
all the orders. Many of the members of this order embraced 
the Reformed doctrine in Italy, as we have elsewhere stated. 
For a long period, this order was reputed to possess a greater 
number of serious persons, who were disposed to read and 
inquire, than any other. It was this which rendered them 
so accessible to the Truth. Like all the other branches of 
what are called the Regular clergy, they are mendicants, and 
wear a coarse woollen frock, with a cord around the waist, 

18* 



210 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATIOK* 

from wliicli a knotted rope is suspended, as a scourge, which 
thej often use upon their persons by way of penance. 

The more we study the entire economy of the Roman Cath- 
olic hierarchy, the more we are amazed at the vastness of it, as 
a whole, and at the minute and singular adaptation of its parts. 
Certainly, it is the master-piece of human — we might say, in 
an evil sense, of superhuman — ingenuity. It is so contrived 
that it furnishes scope for every passion by which mankind 
are impelled to great actions, and a field in which every man, 
be his talents or his dispositions what they may, can find 
employment. It has bishopricks, patriarchates, generalships 
of orders, and the See of St. Peter, to offer to the ambition of 
those who would be great ; and it renders even fanaticism 
one of its most efficient auxiliaries, by employing it, incarnate 
in the shape of a monk or a nun, upon some desperate 
errand of mercy, or of conquest for the Church. Not content 
with the labors of the ordinary clergy, employed in the usual 
duties of the parish ministry, it early began to render tribu- 
tary the monastic life, which from the second and third 
centuries had been considered by many to be the highest 
style of piety. Instead of allowing such deluded devotees to 
pursue their solitary life in a wholly useless manner, it organ- 
ized them, at an early period, into companies, required them 
to live together, and found something for them to do. As age 
after age rolled away, the system was more and more im- 
proved, until it attained what to many eyes appeared to be 
perfection itself In addition to its vast army of stationed 
priests, whose functions were those of a parish or settled and 
defined ministry, under the government of bishops and arch- 
bishops, Rome had now another force, equally numerous, 
composed of various orders of monks, with what may be 
called corresponding orders of nuns, organized in the most 
thorough manner, and not supported from the ordinary 
revenues of the Church, but by gifts and bequests of the 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 211 

pious, for tlie purpose of doing a great variety of work which 
the settled clergy had neither the time nor the fitness to per- 
form. In order that they might be as free as possible for the 
fulfilment of their various functions, the monastic orders were 
ultimately emancipated from all episcopal supervision, and 
placed under the control of superiors and generals, who had 
power to enforce all proper obedience, and direct every neces- 
sary movement. Over the whole vast host, embracing the 
regular and irregular forces, the pope reigned supreme, the 
centre of the whole system, — the sun around whom both the 
comparatively stationary planets, and the apparently lawless, 
shooting comets, revolved, — the source of union and vitality, 
and wielding a thousand-fold greater influence over mankind 
than was ever possessed by the proudest of the Cesars. 
Yfhsit a system ! Never has the world seen any dominion 
which can be compared with it. 

But long-continued peace will cause a relaxation of disci- 
pline in the best appointed armies, and permanent possession 
of the field of battle will occasion want of vigilance on the 
part of the greatest generals. So when the first notes of the 
third, and of all the most desperate, onset upon Rome were 
heard rolling over the plains of Germany, and reechoed from 
the mountains of Switzerland, she was found almost asleep. 
Her chief was reposing, like Samson of old, in the embraces 
of another Delilah, and her secular clergy, in all their grada- 
tions, and her friars in all their orders and branches, had 
gro^vn worldly, unvigilant, and unfaithful. And although 
Leo X. acted like the Nazarite when shorn of his locks, yet 
Paul IV. showed that the ancient energy of Rome had re- 
turned, and threatened to overwhelm in ruin those who had 
attacked her. 

A new vigor was felt everywhere. Able and zealous 
prelates and priests were stationed at the most exposed points 
in the wide empire of Romanism, whilst the ancient mo- 



212 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

nastic orders were resuscitated and enlarged. Let us bestow 
a cursory notice on some of them. 

1. And first, we will speak of the Benedictines. This 
order was originated by St. Benedict of Norcia, ^^ in the early 
part of the sixth century, who drew up a regular code of rules 
for the monastery on Monte Cassino, in the neighborhood of 
Naples, of which he was chief and founder. These rules 
were gradually adopted by all the western monks, and mo- 
nasteries were exclusively formed upon the same model. It 
was in this way that these establishments grew up, and the 
monks were brought into the practice of living together, 
subject to a common discipline. 

From the sixth to the tenth century, it may be said that 
all the monks in the Western, or Latin church belonged to 
the order of the Benedictines, not because they were asso- 
ciated in a vast organization and placed under the control of a 
general, or common head, but because the rules of St. Bene- 
dict of Norcia, were adopted in them all. In the earlier 
portion of this period, the regulations of the monasteries and 
the dress of the monks were various in many particulars. 
But, ultimately, great uniformity, in all respects, gained 
ground among them. During all this time the monasteries 
were subject to the supervision and control of the bishops 
within whose diocesses they were established. Various 
branches of this order attained, from time to time, great 
celebrity. Among these may be mentioned the Cluniacs, 
who derived their name from Clugny in Burgundy, where a 
monastery was founded in the year 910. This branch of the 
Benedictines had, at one time, no less than two thousand 
monasteries. After the eleventh century arose various other 
branches, or orders, out of the old Benedictine stock, distin- 



22 Norcia is a town in Spoleto, a district in the Estates of the Church. St. 
Benedict, of Norcia, was born in 480. 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 213 

guislied from each other by peculiarities of dress, and partic- 
ular regulations, but all formed according to the rules of St. 
Benedict of Norcia, — such as the Camaldulians, the Monks 
of Yallombrosa, the Sylvestrians, the Grandimontenses, the 
Carthusians, the Coelestines, the Cistercians, Bernardines, 
Feuillans, the Recollects, the Trappists, and the Monks of 
Fontevraud. ^ 

Some of the monasteries of the Benedictines have enjoyed 
a great celebrity, such as those of Monte Cassino (the mother 
of all), Monte Yergine, Monte Oliveto, Yalladolid, Montser- 
rat, Hirschau, Fulda, and Moelk. The last-named stands on 
the Danube, above Yienna, and is very magnificent. It had, 
for a long time, vast possessions, but the Austrian govern- 
ment has appropriated the greater part of them to secular 
uses, as it has done those of many others within its dominion. 
Many of the nunneries of this order, both in Austria and 
other countries, are reserved for the nobility, because places 
in them are so lucrative. So also in Sicily, the Benedictinea 
are, for the most part, the younger sons of distinguished 
families. 

The discipline in the Benedictine monasteries of our times 
is greatly relaxed from what it used to be, and yet it never 
was excessively severe. St. Benedict seemed to aim at 
making the monks as useful as possible. He therefore pre- 
scribed, in addition to the work of God, — as he termed 
prayer and the reading of religious writings, — the instruc- 
tion of the youth in the elements of a useful education, in the 
doctrines of Christianity, and in the most necessary mechanic 

23 Of all the branches of the Benedictines, the order of Fontevraud was the most 
remarkable. It was founded in a beautiful valley of that name, in Poitou, France, 
in the year 10S9, by one Robert d'Arbrissel. In this order the nuns were the supe- 
riors, and the monks subject to them ! This order had fifty-seven monasteries in 
France, which were all suppressed at the Revolution. 



214 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

arts. ^ The aged and infirm monks, who were capable, were 
formed into a class (ordo scriptorius) and obliged to copy- 
manuscripts. In this way the Benedictines contributed to 
preserve the literary remains of antiquity from ruin; for 
although their founder had in view only the copying of 
religious writings, yet the practice was afterwards extended 
to classical works of every kind. To this order, more than 
to all others, the learned world is indebted for the preserva- 
tion of vast literary treasures. In fact, the Benedictine 
monasteries were, in the middle ages, often asylums in which 
science took refuge and found protection, whilst barbarism 
and vandalism were reigning all around. 

2. Next in the order of time, as well as in usefulness, 
were the Augustinians, most of whose branches arose in 
the eleventh and twelfth centuries. They took the name of 
the renowned father of the Church, not because he was their 
founder, but because they adopted mainly the rules which he 
is reputed to have given his clergy. Augustine united the 
clergy of his diocess of Hippo in associations for spiritual 
improvement, but never had an idea of founding an order of 
monks. His rules were only for the clergy, and were not 
deemed applicable to monks, who were not considered to be 
members of the clerical profession before the eighth century. 
Ultimately, both by public opinion and by bulls of the popes, 
the monks were not only made clergymen, but ranked supe- 
rior to the secular clergy in sanctity. On this account the 
secular clergy often became monks, or formed themselves 
into a species of monastic associations, and bound themselves 
by the canonical vows, or rules of the monastic institutions. 
Of this description are the canons regular, whose constitution 
was formed on the rules of St. Augustine. And all the 



24 All the monnstic orders required its members to take the three vows of chastity^ 
poverty^ and obedience. To these, some orders added other vows or engagements. 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 215 

branches of the Augustinians, such as the Praemonstratenses, 
Augustines, Servites, Hieronymites, Jesuates, Brigittins, are 
regular orders, living also according to these rules. From 
the nature of their constitution, the Augustinians were a sort 
of mongrel order, its members belonging to the regular 
clergy, and yet performing the functions of the secular. 
Before the Keformation, they had about two thousand monas- 
teries, containing thirty thousand monks, and also three 
hundred nunneries. 

3. The order of ' Our Lady of Mount Carmel,' or the Car- 
melites. This order was founded about the middle of the 
twelfth century, by Berthold of Calabria, who formed an 
association of pilgrims on Mount Carmel. A papal bull con- 
firmed the enterprise in the year 1224. Driven from Mount 
Carmel by the Saracens, some twenty-five years afterwards, 
the Carmelites scattered themselves over Western Europe. 
Ultimately their number became considerable. But notwith- 
standing their boast, that their order is the most ancient of 
all, and that it embraced the prophet Elias, all the prophets 
and holy men of antiquity, and the Saviour himself, their 
order has never enjoyed the very highest repute. ^^ The 
members of it are, by its constitution, so utterly useless to 
society, that few enlightened governments have been willing 
to give much countenance to the order. It has numerous 
convents in Spain, Portugal, and South America, and some 
in Italy, and other countries. 

4. The Dominicans. This order was founded at Tou- 
louse, in the year 1215, by Dominic. At first they were 
governed by the rules of St. Augustine, and were an order of 
preaching friars, formed, emphatically, to preach ao-ainst 
heresy. They soon gave proof of their zeal for the Roman 
Catholic Church, in the earnestness with which they labored 



25 The Carmelites also claim Pythagoras, and the Druids of Gaul, as members of 
their order, and certainly with as much propriety as they do Elijah. 



216 ITALT SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

to extirpate tlie Albigenses. For this service tliej received 
the privileges of a mendicant order, and soon afterwards 
increased so rapidly, that they became nmnerous in all parts 
of the Christian world. Their order had great efficiency from 
the monarchical unity of its constitution, and the complete 
subjection of its members to a general. As they devoted 
themselves to preaching, and also to the cultivation of learn- 
ing, they soon acquired a vast influence in Church and State. 
But they had implacable enemies and formidable rivals in 
the Franciscans. The Dominicans could boast of having 
some great men in their order, among whom we may men- 
tion Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. Their zeal for 
the propagation of the Catholic religion, in South America 
and elsewhere, was still further rewarded by their being put 
in possession of the Inquisition, and also by being intrusted, 
in the year 1620, with the censorship of books at Rome. It 
must be confessed that they have labored hard to approve 
themselves worthy of the high trust which the popes have 
reposed in them. It cannot be said, however, that they 
flourish at present any where, save in Sicily, Spain, Portugal, 
South America, and Mexico. They have been gaining 
ground of late in Italy, we believe. ^^ 

5. The Franciscans. This order was founded in 1208, by 
St. Francis of Assisi, a town in Umbria, in Italy. It was 
formed upon the most rigid principles of poverty. It was 
intended by its founder to supply the deficiencies of the secu- 
lar clergy, and especially to look after the poor and neg- 
lected. From the first it was in great favor with the popes, 
who granted it many privileges. Such was the rapidity of 

26 The Dominicana are often called Jacobins^ in France, because they had a fa- 
mous convent in Paris, in the Rue St. Jacques (or St. James, Jacobus^ in Latin). The 
political party which bore the name of Jacobins was so called from holding their 
meetings in this same old convent, which was then deserted by its former occu- 
pants. It has since been demolished. 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS. 217 

its growtli, that it soon had several thousands of convents and 
many nunneries. And although learning was almost des- 
pised by this order, yet it had, from time to time, some very 
distinguished scholars, among whom we may mention Bona- 
ventura, Alexander de Hales, Duns Scotus, and Roger Bacon. 
Several popes have been taken from it. 

The Franciscans were called by their founder, Fratres 
Minores, ^^ or Minorites, in token of humility. One of the 
most important branches of this order is that of the Obser- 
vantines, organized in 1517 by Leo X., out of three classes 
of dissenters from the old stock. The Capuchins are another 
branch, and the most rigid of all. The Cordeliers, in 
France, are another branch. The Alcantarines, in Spain 
and Portugal, are still another. The Minims^ may be 
called another branch also of the Franciscans. They were 
founded by St. Francis of Paula, in Calabria, in the fifteenth 
century. They soon became numerous. The basis of their 
order was humility, and its motto charity. To the three 
usual vows, Francis of Paula gave his followers a fourth, 
that of keeping Lent during the whole year. So rigid were 
his ideas on this subject, that the members of his communities 
were required to abstain not only from eggs, but from milk, 
and every article of food of which milk is an ingredient. 

Such is the brief notice which our limits allow us to take 
of the monastic orders that existed at the commencement of 
the Reformation. Into aU these establishments Rome began 
to infuse new vigor, what time she roused herself up to resist 
in earnest the encroachments which Truth was making upon 
her wide domains. New life was felt in aU the old and 
decaying branches of the Ionq great trunks, or orders, of the 
monastic bodies. This was especially true of the four famous 

27 Younger Brethren. 

28 Derived from the Latin, word minimi^ which signifies least of all, 

19 



218 ITALY SINCE THE REFORJUATION. 

mendicant orders, tlie Franciscans, tlie Dominicans, tlie Car- 
melites, and the Augustinians. 

In addition to all this, new branches were formed. We 
have already spoken of the Theatines and the Capuchins ; but 
we must not fail to mention also the Barnabites, the Somas- 
kians, the Priests and Fathers of the Oratory, ^ the Lazar- 
ists, Bartholomasans, Piarists, and the Brethren of Mercy. 

Surely, by this time the reader will think that the hosts of 
the pope must have been numerous and large enough to 
overwhelm the Eeformation, let it break out where it might. 
But not so did his Holiness think. One more order was stiU 
needed, before the organization of his forces could be com- 
plete — the Jesuits. On this, the most remarkable of all, 
we must bestow a special notice. 

Nothing could be better adapted to the exigency in which 
Rome found herself, m her conflict with Protestantism, than 
the Order of the Jesuits. It filled up a gap which, till its 
institution, had remained unprovided for. The secular 
clergy, under the control of bishops and archbishops, had the 
care of the regular parishes. It was their duty to carry on 
the services of the churches on the sabbaths, the festivals, or 
saints' days, which might consist of the reading of the liturgy, 
or the preaching of discourses, accompanied with the pre- 
scribed prayers. In addition to this, there was the saying of 
masses for the dead, the instruction of the children in the 
doctrines of the Church, the visiting of the sick, and the 
hearing of the confessions of the people, etc. etc. — a work 
various in its nature, and often very laborious. It is true, 
that as to preaching, but few, comparatively, of the secular 
clergy were able to do much in that way, on account of their 
ignorance; nor did they attempt it as a general practice, 

29 The ' Priests and Fathers of the Oratory ' were a French order. It became 
famous because of the eloquence of some of its members, among whom Massillon 
glands preeminent. 



THE OKDER OF JESTJS. 219 

especially in the villages and country parishes, save during 
Lent, and on other special occasions. 

In aid of the parish priests, and by way of working out the 
complement of their labors and their supervision of the 
people, the various monastic orders, of which we have 
spoken, were organized. And as the monks were, for the 
most part, not under the control of the bishops, but of their 
superiors and generals, and they of the pope, their action was 
as free as they could desire. They could visit the sick and 
the indigent, confess the people, instruct the youth, and per- 
form all other clerical functions in the localities and districts 
in which they resided. And as the number of the monks 
of various orders, at the commencement of the Reformation, 
must have far exceeded one hundred thousand, to say nothing 
of the novices, and of the associated laymen, who formed the 
connecting link which united the orders with society at large, 
and of the sisters, who cooperated in various ways, it is mani- 
fest, that the spiritual forces of Rome were numerous, well 
appointed, and well arranged. It must have been difficult 
for heresy to gain a foothold anywhere, no matter how 
obscure the place, without being promptly detected, and the 
proper measures taken for its expulsion. 

But the times were changing. Knowledge was advancing 
rapidly in all civilized countries. Science was making 
astounding discoveries. The minds of men were waking up. 
The press was scattering the newly discovered truths, and 
education was extending, even among the lowest classes of 
society, the capacity for receiving them. Most of the monks 
were proverbially ignorant, as weU as the priests. The 
Dominicans were morose, stern, suspicious, and forbidding in 
their appearance and manners; and the Franciscans were 
coarse, rude, vulgar, and eminently repulsive. The times 
demanded more knowledge in those who would be the re- 



220 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

ligious guides of the people, as well as more of the dress and 
address of gentlemen. 

But an enthusiastic Spaniard is raised up to be founder of 
an order which should supply what was wanting in the 
economy of Rome. Born of noble parents, distinguished by 
his prowess and his feats in arms, his fervid imagination 
looked forward to the time when he should lay at the feet of 
a dulcinea, who was ' no countess, no duchess, but one of far 
higher station,' the keys of Moorish castles, and the proud 
trophies won from Asiatic kings ! But a wound received at 
the siege of Pampeluna rendered him a cripple for life, and 
destroyed all his knightly hopes. Whilst lying sick in the 
hospital, the perusal of a volume of the lives of the saints, 
turned the current of his soul into an entirely new channel. 
He determines to be a knight in the service of the Spouse of 
Christ. He retires into solitude, fasts, prays, and resolves to 
live a life of extremest poverty and self-denial ; has a vision 
of the Virgin and infant Son, who imparts to him the perfect 
virtue of continence ; sees Jesus and Satan contending for 
this world, and resolves to found a society to maintain the 
cause of the Saviour. No dangers, no trials, can prevent 
his visiting Jerusalem. He returns, betakes himself to books, 
and visits Paris to prosecute his studies at the Univer- 
sity of that city. He there meets with Lainez, Salmeron, 
Rodriguez, Bovadilla, and others, in concert with whom he 
lays the plan of a new society. Thence he goes to Venice, 
enters the convent of the Theatines, and astonishes even the 
members of that order, then accounted the strictest of all, as 
well as Caraffa, its founder, with his austerities and his vigils. 
There he has a vision of the Father and the Son, and deter- 
mines, in consequence of what the latter says to him, to call 
his proposed society by the name of Jesus. From Venice he 
goes to Rome, where he joins Lainez, and his other asso- 
ciates. They submit the scheme of their society to Pope 



THE ORDER OF JESUS. 221 

Paul III. The holy Father comprehends at once its vast 
utility, and its adaptedness to the occasion. The bull author- 
izing its foundation was issued in the year 1540. Loyola, 
who is fairly entitled to the credit of being its founder, is 
chosen the first general of the order. For sixteen years he 
presided over its affairs, during all which time he performed 
the humblest services in his church at Eome, such as in- 
structing little children, collecting alms for the Jews and 
public women, for whose conversion he displayed great zeal. 

Lainez succeeded Loyola in the generalship of the Society 
of Jesus, — as the new order was called, — a man of far 
greater talent and energy than its founder. He was suc- 
ceeded by Francis Borgia ; and he by Claudius Aquaviva, 
who presided over the order for thirty-four years. From his 
plastic hands, the Society received those touches which gave 
to it the finish of perfection. To him the order was mainly 
indebted for the impulse and direction which it received in 
relation to education. 

But let us look for a moment at the organization of this 
wonderful institution, which has rightly been compared to ' a 
sword, whose handle is at Rome, but whose point is every- 
where.' 

The head of the order was its general, who resided at 
Rome, and whose authority over all its members was complete 
and indisputable. He was assisted by a monitor, or spiritual 
adviser, and a council of five members. For convenience, 
the order was divided into provinces, each of which had a 
head, called a provincial, who was required to make a report 
to the general once a month. In each province there were 
Houses of the professed, as the members were called, over 
which was a superior, who was required to make a report to 
the general once in three months, as were also the heads of 
the colleges which were established by the order. 

A stern and severe noviciate of two years, was required of 
19* 



222 ITALr SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

every one wlio would become a member of the Society. Be- 
sides the professed members, who alone had a vote in the 
choice of the general, there were the scholars and spiritual 
coadjutors^ who devoted themselves to the education of youth, 
in boarding schools and colleges, and to the occupation of 
preachers and confessors at courts, as well as tutors in fami- 
lies, and rectors of institutions of learning. These have been 
called the artists of the order. And, lastly, there were the 
secular coadjutors, who were laymen, who had not taken the 
monastic vow, but who, as subalterns and confederates, have 
been termed the people of the Society. Princes and other 
great men were sometimes admitted to this rank, for the sake 
of honor. 

The members were required to take the usual vows of the 
orders, — chastity, poverty, and obedience. But the last- 
named was taken in the most absolute sense imaginable. It 
bound him who took it, to go on a mission to the heathen, or 
heretics, or undertake any other task, to which the general 
might call him. The motto of the Society was : Omnia in 
majorem Dei gloriam, ^ 

The members of this order were forbidden to seek, or 
accept, any post of honor in the Church, such as the office of 
a bishop, archbishop, patriarch, pope, etc. They were not 
permitted to confess a woman, save in the presence of a third 
person, who should, however, be a Jesuit. They were not 
allowed to receive money for saying masses. 

On the other hand, they w^ere permitted to enjoy not only 
all the rights of the mendicant and secular orders, and be 
exempt from all supervision of the bishops, and jurisdiction 
of civil magistrates, so that they should acknowledge no 
authority but that of the pope and the superiors of their 
order, but they could also exercise every priestly function, 

30 All for the greater glory of God. 



THE ORDER OF JESUS. 223 

parochial rights notwithstanding, among all classes of men, 
even during an interdictl They could absolve from all sins 
and ecclesiastical penalties, change the object of a vow, 
acquire churches and estates without further papal sanction ; 
dispense themselves, in certain circumstances, from the ob- 
servance of canonical hours, fasts, and prohibitions of meats, 
and even from the use of the breviary. Their general was 
invested with unlimited power over the members. He could 
send them on missions of every kind; could appoint pro- 
fessors of theology at his discretion, whenever he chose ; and 
confer academical degrees, which were to be equivalent to 
those granted by the universities. These privileges secured 
to the Jesuits a power and an influence incomparably greater 
than those of any other order, and fitted them for any sort of 
work. They could mingle with the world as men of the 
world. They could be agreeable and accommodating confess- 
ors at courts, and the companions of the rich and the gay, as 
well as visit the poor, or carry the banner of the Cross to the 
distant pagans, or undertake the conversion of the most des- 
perate heretics. 

As the Reformation was advocated by many of the most 
learned men of that day, and the Protestants everywhere 
encouraged learning, the Jesuits resolved to do the same. 
They entered with zeal into the education of youth ; their 
schools and colleges multiplied on every hand ; they trained 
up able professors ; they published expurgated editions of the 
classics ; and not a few of them distinguished themselves in 
the various branches of science, and in all the walks of litera- 
ture. In this respect, their course differed as much from 
that of all the other orders, save that of the Dominicans, the 
Barnabites, and a few others, as their gentlemanly costume 
and polite manners did from the repulsive habiliments, and 
the coarse and disgusting manners, of the Capuchins, and 
other monks. 



224 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

Commencing in the pope's dominions, thej soon spread 
over all parts of Italy. They spread in Portugal and Spain, 
and all their possessions, and in the most of the Catholic por- 
tions of Germany, especially Bavaria and Austria. They 
gained a foothold in France. They penetrated into the 
distant East, and planted their standard in China, Japan, and 
the Moluccas. Besides their missions in the Spanish and 
Portuguese settlements in the new world, they undertook to 
plant a commonwealffi in South America, and established a 
theocracy of their own devising in Paraguay. 

Never had Rome seen the rise of any other order, which 
was so rapid, or which promised to do so much to sustain her 
authority. She had at length obtained a true Prastorian 
band, an army of Strelitzes and Janizaries, — a faithful life- 
guard, — who were capable of defending her. 

And now one would suppose that she was fully prepared 
to take the field against the Protestant heresy, to arrest 
whose inroads all this burnishing of her old armor, this 
renewing, recruiting, increasing of her cohorts, was made. 
But still there was something wanting. The voice of the 
Church must be heard, not in favor of reform, which was so 
much needed, but to define heresy, and oppose the new 
doctrines. 

III. The Council of Trent. 

Finding it impossible to resist longer the demands of so 
large a portion of the Church, enforced by the importunity of 
Charles Y., Emperor of Germany, Pope Paul III. sum- 
moned a Council to be held at Trent, a secluded and ancient 
city in the Tyrolese Alps. It was opened on the 13th of 
December, 1545, and was closed on the 4th of December, 
1563. Including adjournments, some of which lasted many 
months, this famous Council continued through eighteen 
years, wanting a few days. Its different sessions were 



COUNCIL OF TRENT, 225 

in all twenty-five. The number of its members varied 
very much from time to time. The Jesuits Lainez and Sal- 
meron were there. Its decrees and canons were signed by 
two hundred and fifty-five prelates. Those from Italy were 
more numerous than all the others combined. This fact, in 
connection with the character and talent of his legates, 
secured for the pope a complete ascendancy, from beginning 
to end, in this celebrated synod; and on every point his 
wishes were fully gratified. 

The Council of Trent confirmed all the hitherto uncanon- 
ized eri'ors of Rome. It anathematized almost all the great 
doctrines of the gospel. It declared the Apocrypha a part of 
the Sacred Scriptures, elevated tradition to a level with the 
Word of God, pronounced the Vulgate to be authentic, and 
quite equal to the original Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, 
and made the Church its interpreter. It established as a 
law the celibacy of the priests, took away the cup from the 
laity, opposed and condemned the doctrine of justification by 
faith. It confirmed all the gross errors which Rome had 
previously taught respecting purgatory, the worship of the 
saints, the adoration of images and relics, monastic vows, 
indulgences, fasts, prohibition of certain meats, and made 
provision for an Index of forbidden books, a catechism, and a 
breviary, a task which it enjoined upon the pope to carry 
into execution. 

It created a great gulf between the Protestants and 
Roman Catholics, so far as religious doctriue and ecclesias- 
tical rites and economy are concerned, and it widened and 
deepened that which had existed between the Western and 
Eastern Churches since the ninth century. It had been 
called for from various quarters, for the purpose of reform- 
ing abuses, and conciliating and reclaiming the Protestants. 
But it reformed no abuses worthy of mention, and it repeUed 
instead of winning those who had embraced the new doc- 



226 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

trines. ' Cursed be all heretics ! ' cried the Cardinal of Lor- 
raine, at the close of its last session. And ' cursed ! cursed ! ' 
responded all the prelates. ' Cursed ! cursed ! ' echoed back 
the lofty dome of the old cathedral of Trent. Never had 
there been so much ' cursing ' in any other synod, since the 
world was made. The members separated in this accursed 
spirit, and returned home to enter, with renewed ardor, upon 
the work of exterminating heresy. 

Nor were the hopes which the pope founded upon the 
decisions of this Council and their consequences disappointed. 
For now the doctrines of Rome were clearly defined. The 
whole system was definitively arranged. The toil of ages 
was at length at an end. The grand edifice of Romish 
superstition and error was finished, and the cap-stone laid. 
The canon of tradition was completed. No more additions 
were to be made ; no, not even the slightest alterations and 
amendments were to be allowed. 

Much was done for Rome by the Council of Trent. Her 
position was better ascertained than ever. Thenceforth it 
would be almost impossible for a member of that Church to 
hold a heretical opinion, or even the shadow of one, without 
knowing it. It was ^far from having been so, in previous 
ages. Of course, it would be, thenceforth, far more difficult 
for those who held the ' Truth as it is in Jesus,' to remain in 
that Church with a pure conscience. 

An Index of Forbidden Books, or rather a spiritual cen- 
sorship, was a natural result of the doings of the Council of 
Trent. That body of ecclesiastical lawgivers decided, that 
there must be a tribunal created to look after the press, and 
see to it that no books should be read by men, and especially 
by the faithful, that contained opinions which Rome does not 
believe to be orthodox. This was an important point gained. 

One weapon more was necessary, and that, Rome had long 
had in her magazine. It was the Inquisition. This was to 



REACTION IN FAVOR OF ROMANISM. 227 

be the grand instrument for destroying heresy, and compell- 
ing men to remain in her communion. And now this dread- 
ful institution, more completely moulded after the Spanish 
pattern, was introduced into Italy, as we have stated. Holy 
Inquisitors, as they were called, traversed the country in all 
directions. Through the espionage of the priests and monks, 
as well as their own sleepless vigilance, they were enabled to 
track every heretic. And, disregarding all civil authority, 
they pounced upon their victims without remorse, and bore 
them off, in most cases, to certain and cruel death. 

We have now indicated the various forces which Eome 
mustered, wherewith to encounter the Eeformation, and indi- 
cated the measures and influences which she wielded in the 
great and furious warfare which she was about to make upon 
the Eeformed doctrine. The struggle was to be a desperate 
one. She was contending for her life. She must stay the 
spread of Truth, or be herself undone. The contest was to 
be such a one as she never had waged, and the like of which 
she will probably see but once more. It was to cost her fully 
one third part of the vast domains which she then possessed, 
and that in some respects the most important of all. Nor 
was she wanting to herself in the eventful crisis. 

TV. The Reaction in favor of Romanism, 

And now the strife was fairly commenced. The Eeform- 
ers in the north of Europe, with the immortal Luther at their 
head, were carrying every thing before them. Entire nations 
around the Baltic abandoned Eome ; and England, Scotland, 
and Holland, soon arranged themselves under the same ban- 
ners. But a reaction commenced on the shores of the Medi- 
terranean. The pope rallied his various and numerous hosts. 
Loyola was the champion of the ancient Faith, and the spirit 
of his Order was infused into all the ranks of the papacy. It 
was felt at Eome itself, and a wonderful reform commenced 



228 ITALY SINCE THE REFOEMATION. 

in the Eternal City. Its court became purified. During the 
generation which preceded the Reformation, that court had 
been a scandal to Christendom. Treason, murder, and even 
incest disgraced its annals. Several of the popes of that age 
were refined, learned, and voluptuous deists. Their days 
were passed away in elegant entertainments, in the cultiva- 
tion of letters, and in the society of beautiful women. But 
now other men were raised up to the direction of the affairs 
of the tottering Church, men who could wear the haircloth 
beneath their gorgeous robes, and who had the austerity of 
eastern anchorites, and the burning zeal of a Cyprian or a 
Chrysostom. The study of the classics, the searching for 
ancient frescos and cameos, and mosaics, and the admiration 
of the works of Raphael, Michael Angelo, and Benvenuto, 
were abandoned for the sterner task of saving the Church 
from the perils with which she was menaced. 

Nor was it on moral influence alone that Rome relied. 
The civil sword was soon unsheathed in Italy and Spain, and 
unsparingly employed in her support. The Inquisition was 
armed with new powers, and worked with new energy. 
Every semblance of Protestantism was pursued with all pos- 
sible violence. Those who were suspected of heresy must 
purge themselves before the tribunal of the Inquisition, or 
prepare to be burned. And so effectual was the work of ex- 
tirpating the new doctrines carried on, that, before the end of 
the sixteenth century, almost every vestige of them had dis- 
appeared from Italy, save at Venice and one or two other 
places. Even the books which were written by those who 
were suspected of heresy, were so thoroughly hunted up and 
burned, that it is now almost impossible to find, in the most 
extensive libraries, a copy of some which were once widely 
circulated in that country. 

Nor was the deadly struggle carried on only in Italy and 
Spain. There was a vast middle field lying between the 



REACTION IN FAYOR OF ROMANISM. 229 

Roman Catholic nations on tlie shores of the Mediterranean 
and the Protestant states on those of the Baltic, composed of 
France, Flanders, Southern Germany, Bohemia, Poland, 
Austria, Hungary, and Transylvania. Into all these the 
Protestant religion spread, and was embraced by millions. 
It was for the possession of this great field, that the war was 
to be carried on by the partisans of the old and the new doc- 
trines. 

The history of Christianity since the Reformation is both 
interesting and instructive. At the end of half a century 
after Luther and Zuingle commenced their glorious mission, 
Protestantism had won entire nations in the north of Europe, 
and was triumphant around the Baltic. It even threatened 
to conquer all middle and southern Europe. A hundred 
years later, we find Romanism in the entire possession of th« 
shores of the Mediterranean, and dominant in all the middle 
countries of Europe, from the German Ocean to the Black 
Sea. Protestantism had not only ceased to advance, but had 
actually lost ground in Europe ; whilst Rome had not only 
recovered much which she had lost in the Old World, but had 
actually greatly enlarged her territorial possessions, by means 
of the extensive colonies planted by the Spanish, Portuguese, 
and French in the New. What were the causes of this 
reverse to the Protestant interests, which once promised to 
be triumphant every where ? They were many and various. 

1. Rome changed her character, and instead of reposing 
longer in luxurious ease, she awoke with mighty vigor to the 
conflict. And, as we have stated, she infused new life into 
all the ranks of the secular clergy, and revived and increased 
her religious orders. Enthusiasm now took the place of in- 
difference. Learning revived, at least, in some portions of 
her priesthood. The Jesuits, the Barnabites, the Fathers of 
the Oratory, furnished some distinguished scholars and splen- 
did preachers ; whilst the first-named could point to mis- 
20 



230 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

sionaries, whose burning zeal was ready to carry them to 
martyrdom in the islands of the distant East, or amid the 
Andes of America. 

2. In the next place, Rome, in accordance with her dogma, 
that it is right to destroy heretics with the sword and the 
fagot, exterminated the Reformed doctrine by violence, in 
Italy and Spain, and employed all her influence to expel it, 
by the same means, from the countries north of the two Pen- 
insulas, which constituted the base of the lines of her forces. 
Nor did she fail to see her wishes gratified. Not only thou- 
sands but millions of men lost their lives in that great middle 
field of which we have spoken. In the Netherlands, in 
France, in Bohemia, in Moravia, what scenes of blood took 
place ! And what sort of Christianity is that which can 
resort to such means of advancement ? 

3. Not content with persecution, Rome resorted even to 
internal and external wars, in order to arrest the progress of 
Protestantism. This she did in France, Flanders, Poland, 
Bohemia, Hungary, and Transylvania. She urged the em- 
peror of Germany to violate the pledges of the empire in 
behalf of the Protestants, and make war upon them, and then 
aided him with all her influence. 

4. On the other hand, Protestantism lost her original char- 
acter, through the influence of her successes even, and after- 
wards of the persecutions and the struggles through which 
she had to pass. Having gained several nations in the north 
of Europe, she soon became content with her victories ; or 
rather she soon began to rely on an arm of flesh, instead of 
trusting to the Spirit and grace of her exalted and glorious 
Head. It was her misfortune, owing to the erroneous views 
which then prevailed in all parts of Christendom, and owing 
also to the circumstances in which the Reformation was car- 
ried on in some countries, to ally herself to the State, and 
submit herself to all the injurious influence of this unhal- 



REACTION IN FAVOR OF ROMANISM. 231 

lowed union. This led inevitably, through the introduction 
of unconverted men into the ministry from selfish motives, to 
the corruption of sound doctrine in the churches, and the 
banishment of true piety from them. 

5. It was also a sad calamity to Protestantism that the 
Eeformation was not thorough enough, even in the countries 
in which it prevailed. Too much of Romanism was permitted 
to cleave, even to the purest of the Protestant churches. In 
some cases this residuum of the old leaven related to doc- 
trines ; in other cases to ecclesiastical organization ; and in 
others still to their views of what relations the Church ought 
to bear to civil government. It resulted from these, that 
very soon formalism, or a disposition to make religion consist, 
as among the Roman Catholics, in a compliance with certain 
ceremonies and forms, rather than in the renewing of the 
heart by faith in Christ, and the effectual operation of the 
Spirit, crept into the Protestant churches every where. Nor 
did the Reformation thoroughly pervade the masses in any 
country. This it could not, perhaps, be expected, from the 
nature of the case, to do at once. And what postponed this 
blessed consummation in some countries, and prevented it 
altogether in others, was the melancholy occurrence of the 
wars in which the Protestant nations were soon involved, 
either to defend themselves against the Roman Catholic 
powers, or, what was still more deplorable, in settling their 
disputes with one another, — disputes which old national 
antipathies generated, and which they had not religion 
enough to suppress. What Protestant of our times can read, 
without tears, the wars which Protestant England carried on 
with Protestant Holland, and Protestant Denmark with 
Protestant Sweden ? All these wars hindered, to a degree 
of which it is hard for us to have any just conception, the 
thorough regeneration of those countries which the Reforma- 
tion had so happily commenced. 



232 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

We think that the reader will agree with us, after having 
attentively weighed the causes above stated, that it is not 
wonderful that Protestantism did not make more extensive 
conquests ; nor that Eomanism, rallying all its forces, moral, 
physical, and political, not only maintained itself on the 
shores of the Mediterranean, but drove its antagonist back, 
almost to the Baltic. 

V. Reaction against Romanism. 

Another century passes away, and we are brought to the 
year 1768. And what was then the state of the Protestants 
and Roman Catholics, relative and positive? Neither the 
one nor the other had gained much upon its antagonist. 
Both had increased, especially in the New World, through 
the natural increase of the population of the countries in 
which they predominated. Both were content to maintain the 
status quo, and to consider Protestantism and Romanism to 
be political rather than religious elements, and only to be 
taken into account when there was question respecting the 
balance of power. Both had sunken down into a state of 
profound apathy. In the Protestant nations of Europe, with 
the exception of the partial revival of true piety in Great 
Britain, through the labors of Wesley and Whitefield, and in 
Germany through those of Francke and Spener, formalism 
had long prevailed in the churches. In some parts a cold 
Pelagianism, a lifeless Arianism, and even Deism, had been 
gaining ground. Whilst in Roman Catholic countries, victory 
had led to insolence, and finally to carelessness, indolence, and 
worldliness, on the part of the hierarchy. In consequence of 
this, a general disgust was felt among the higher classes at 
the doctrines and rites of Rome. Every where the way was 
fast preparing for the outburst of infidelity and irreligion, 
which took place a few years later, when the seeds of politi- 
cal liberty which the Reformation had sown, more or less 



LIFE RETURNS TO BOTH. 233 

profusely in all Europe, as well as in America, after having 
long germinated, were about to produce an abundant harvest 
in both hemispheres. 

The Revolution of 1789, in France, gave another dreadful 
blow to Eome. It was the fourth; but it differed widely 
from the three which preceded it, for it came from the hands 
of those who hated Christianity under every name and every 
form. Twenty-five years of war and revolution ensued, fatal 
to the interests of vital piety, but fraught with due punish- 
ment both to Roman Catholic and Protestant nations for 
their sins. 

VI. Life and vigor now return to both Protestantism and 

Romanism. 

At length peace returned to bleeding Europe. From that 
epoch life, which had commenced reflowing to the Protestant 
churches years before in Great Britain, began to manifest 
itself in the corrupt and dead churches on the Continent. 
With the resuscitation of evangehcal doctrines, the spirit of 
missions, or a desire to fulfil the Saviour's last command to 
his disciples, began to manifest itself. As this spirit in- 
creased in Protestant Christendom, a corresponding revival 
commenced in that which is Roman Catholic. And at this 
moment, whilst the Protestant churches which hold fast the 
Truth, are coming more and more every year up to the 
great work of spreading the gospel throughout the world, 
Rome is also burnishing her armor, replenishing her maga- 
zines, recruiting her forces of priests, and friars, and sisters, 
and preparing, not to act on the defensive alone, but to con- 
quer her enemy. She has reestablished the order of Jesus 
in Italy, and such other countries as will tolerate them. The 
great struggle has commenced. But who knows when it will 
end ? Blessed be God, we cannot doubt how it will termi- 
nate, for the downfall of Babylon is as certain as the word of 
20* 



234 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

God is true. In the mean while, the advance of political and 
civil liberty is steady, and religious liberty is following in its 
train. Every Roman Catholic country on the face of the 
earth has undergone a great change in its political relations 
or its form of government, within far less than a century, 
save Italy and Austria. In every case, these changes have 
been more or less favorable to the spread of the Truth. Nor 
is it probable that Italy and Austria will long form excep- 
tions, for their day hastens apace. The prospect is full of 
encouragement to all who pray for, and earnestly expect, the 
establishment of Christ's kingdom on the earth. 

As to Italy, the despotism which reigns there in all parts, 
save the Duchies of Tuscany and Lucca, has long been felt 
to be intolerable. And were it not for Austria, the spirit of 
revolution, which has with so much difficulty been kept down 
these last twenty-five years, would break forth in all direc- 
tions. Nor is the spiritual despotism which exists in that 
country less detested than the political. Among the middle 
and highest classes there are thousands who look upon the 
priests and monks of every order as so many spies, from 
whose presence it is impossible to escape. To take measures 
to avoid their intrusion even into the sanctity of domestic 
life, would excite their cruel suspicion, and attract their vin- 
dictive hatred. Nothing but the iron hand of desj)otism 
keeps the people in subjection. As it is, ever and anon, the 
burning indignation of the more courageous bursts forth, and 
draws down upon their devoted heads the direful effects of 
priestly and despotic wrath. Within the pope's dominions, 
even within the last few months, many men have been sum- 
marily put to death because they were suspected of design- 
ing to rid their country of the monstrous despotism, beneath 
which it groans. 

But whatever Rome may do to resuscitate her unscriptu- 
ral dogmas and ancient superstitions, she will find the effort 



SACRED LITERATURE. 235 

wholly vain. For altliough the masses of people, being igno- 
rant and degraded, and content with mere forms, may be 
retained for a considerable time in her grasp, yet the higher 
and more intelligent classes see through and detest her vain 
ceremonies and hypocritical professions. And sooner or 
later, they will spurn from their lips the cup of her pagan 
abominations, and demand the pure water of life. Even now 
this is beginning to be the case. 

VII. Sacred Literature in Italy since the Reformation, 

At the epoch of the Reformation, as we have seen, there 
were some able writers in Italy, in the Roman Catholic 
Church, such as Cardinals Cajetan, Pole, Caraffa, and 
Bembo. There have been distinguished authors in that 
Church from time to time. And yet it must be confessed 
that Italy, with all the advantages which she has possessed, 
has not done much for sacred literature during the last three 
hundred years. Bellarmino, Baronio, Paolo Sarpi, PaUavi- 
cini, and others, distinguished themselves in writing in de- 
fence of the Church and in ecclesiastical history in the 
former part of that period. In later times the writings of 
Berti, Ughelli, Lucentius, Galland, Mansi, and Liguori,^^ 



31 Alfonso Maria di Liguori, who was born at Naples in the year 1696, founded a 
monastery at Villa Scala, in the year 1732, the members of which were called the 
Order of the Most Holy Redeemer. This order resembled so much that of the Jesuits, 
that after the suppression of the latter, the Ligorists or, Redemptorists ^ as they are 
often called, in some respects took their place, especially in Italy. Gradually it 
has extended itself, until it now has monasteries not only in that country but also 
in Switzerland, Austria, and some other countries. In the year ISll, they took 
possession of the suppressed Carthusian monastery at Val-Saint, in the Canton of 
Fribourg, where they have now a large establishment. They have also a rich 
monastery in Vienna. Since the restoration of the order of Jesuits, the Ligorists 
have probably made less progress, and may be considered a portion of the follow- 
ers of Ignatius Loyola. As to Father Liguori, now a saint in the Roman Catholic 
calendar, who died in the year 1787, at the age of ninety, the most important of 
his writings is his Morals^ which is a text-book in many, if not all of the Jesuit 
Colleges, — a work which as completely undermines the principles of all true 



236 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

attained considerable celebrity. The first-named wrote a 
system of dogmatic theology, which has been highly esteemed 
in Italy. Galland's Library of the Fathers of the Churchy 
and Mansi's Collection of the Councils^ are works which do 
credit to their authors. 

Many volumes of sermons and treatises on various theo- 
logical subjects, have been published in Italy since the Refor- 
mation ; but few of them have been much known beyond its 
limits. Among the most distinguished preachers who have 
flourished in Italy since the Reformation, Giuseppe Barbieri, 
Bishop Turchi, and Padre Lojano, may be mentioned. ^^ 
Several of the present cardinals are reputed to be men of 
talents. His Holiness, Gregory XYI., is a man of more 

morality, as does any thing which the Jesuits have ever published. A scorching 
review of this work appeared in Strasburg, in the year 1843, under the title of 
Decouvertes (Vun Bibliophile. 

32 The first-named of these three distinguished preachers and authors, was an 
adopted son of the celebrated Melchiore Cesarotti. Bishop Turchi lived before 
Barbieri, and excelled him in point of talent. Several volumes of his discourses 
have been published, and are highly esteemed in Italy. As to Padre Lojano, he 
was a man of great talent, and an admirable writer ; but if the reports respecting 
him, which circulate in Italy, be true, he was not remarkable for piety, whatever 
else he may have possessed. He lived in stormy times, and was quite as much of 
a soldier as of a preacher. He was fond of company, too, and was often surprised 
when in the midst of convivial scenes, by the ringing of the bell which called him to 
his duties in the pulpit. On one occasion, it is reported, he was very much pressed 
for time. Hastily seizing the pack of cards, with which he had been playing with 
some friends, he thrust them into the manicle, or large cuff of his coat, and hastened 
to the church, mounted the pulpit, and commenced preaching as usual, with great 
animation. In the midst of his discourse, whilst vehemently gesturing, the 
pack of cards fell out of his sleeve, and came flying down upon the heads of his 
hearers. Nothing daunted or discomposed, he lold the people to gather them up. 
And observing a boy who had picked up one which he did not give up, he called 
aloud to him, and asked him what the name of the card was, which he had put in 
his pocket. The boy told him which it was. He then asked him ' which is the 
eighth Commandment?' But he could not tell. 'Fathers and mothers,' cried 
Padre Lojano, ' see how you are bringing up your children ! You teach them how 
to play cards, but do not teach them the Commandments of God ! I have long sus- 
pected as much, and adopted this method of exposing, in a striking manner, the 
delinquencies of which you are guilty, in relation to the instruction of children. 
And I hope you will not fail to profit by it.' 



SACRED LITERATURE. ' 237 

learning than most of his predecessors. This is not saying 
much. He is, however, author of several works. The late 
Cardinal Pacca was reckoned to be a man of extensive ac- 
quirements. The same reputation is enjoyed by Cardinal 
Lambruschini. Cardinal Mezzofanti is famous for his 
knowledge of languages, but is a man of no erudition, and 
of little capacity for any thing else than the acquisition of 
words. Cardinal Maio is well known for his successful 
efforts in recovering the Repuhlic of Cicero, and fragments 
of many other ancient writings, in Latin and Greek, by 
deciphering Palimpsests^ or Codices rescripti, ^ 

With the exception of De Kossi's various readings of the 
Hebrew text of the Old Testament, Italy has furnished little 
or nothing that is of much value, in the department of bibli- 
cal criticism, since the Reformation. And as to exegesis, it 
has absolutely stood still, whilst Protestant Germany, En- 
gland, and other countries which have received the Reformed 
doctrine, have been advancing. Indeed, there has been little 
done in that country for biblical literature, save the publica- 
tion of the Scriptures, or portions of them, in some of the 
eastern languages at the Propaganda and at the printing 
establishment of the Roman Catholic Armenian Monastery 
at Venice. Some editions of the Septuagint and of the Vul- 
gate have been issued for the benefit of the learned, and a 
translation of the Scriptures, made from the Vulgate, by An- 
tonio Martini, Archbishop of Florence, has been published 
for the benefit of the common people. This is about all that 
has been done to put the Word of God in circulation. It is 
a mournful fact that there has been far less interest felt in 



33 For the sake of those who do not know, we may statie that the Palimpsests are 
parchments on which were orig-inally written ancient treatises, that were erased 
by the monks in the middle ages, in order that they might use the parchments for 
writing upon them their legends of the saints, etc. By a chemical process the 
second writing is removed, and the ancient made to appear. 



238 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

Italj, SO far as the Roman Catholic Church is concerned, 
in the Sacred Scriptures since the Reformation, than was 
displayed in the century which preceded it. After that 
glorious movement had commenced in Germany, the old 
doctrines were more obstinately maintained than ever in 
Italy, and all further investigation of the Bible was discour- 
aged. It is in consequence of this that the knowledge of the 
Sacred Oracles has decidedly and greatly retroceded in that 
country, within the last three centuries. 

VIII. Charojcter of the Roman Catholic Clergy in Italy. 

Of the literary attainments and qualifications of the Roman 
Catholic clergy, in Italy, we have but little to say. It is 
asserted that the entire number of those who are comprised 
in the ministry of the Church of Rome, in that country, in- 
eluding all the members of all the orders, as well as all the 
secular clergy, is about ^yq hundred thousand. This esti- 
mate seems to us to be too high ; and yet no man can pos- 
sibly visit Italy, and travel extensively in it, without being 
astonished at the vast number of those wearing clerical habil- 
iments. The streets of Turin, of Milan, of Rome, of Naples, 
and of every other city, swarm with monks of various orders, 
of parish priests, and of students who are members of the 
seminaries. 

The time has been when the Italian bishops exceeded in 
number all the rest of the prelates of the whole Roman 
Catholic hierarchy. For aught we know, it may be so still, 
notwithstanding the creation of forty new bishoprics within 
the last forty-two years, most of which, if not all, are in other 
countries. As to the cardinals, probably as many as three 
fourths of the Sacred College are Italians, and most of 
them spend much of their time at Rome, residing each in his 
palace, maintaining the same extensive, costly, and cumber- 
some establishments, driving about in the same sort of car- 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CLEHaY. 239 

riages, and surrounded by servants dressed in the same kind 
of livery, as did their pr.edecessors in office for the last seve- 
ral hundreds of years. ^ 

That many of the higher clergy in Italy are well educated, 
is readily admitted. There are some of them men of pro- 
found erudition. As a general statement, however, it must be 
averred that they are men more deeply versed in the dogmas 
of their own church, more carefully instructed in the philoso- 
phy of the schools, and more thoroughly trained to the use of 
the dialectics which Eome wields against heretics and infi- 
dels, than enriched with the various, elevating, and solid 
erudition which prevails among the best educated clergy in 
the Protestant Churches of every Protestant country. Among 
the inferior clergy, also, secular as well as regular, there are 
men of extensive acquirements, especially in those branches 
of knowledge which more immediately concern their profes- 
sion. 

These concessions we cheerfully make, for we have had 
some opportunity of learning their truth on the spot. But at 
the same time we do not hesitate to say, that there is an 
amount of ignorance, gross ignorance, in the overwhelming 
majority of the parish priests and monks of almost every 
order, that would seem incredible to those who have not 
visited that country, and learned the true state of things from 
the best authorities. The greater part read little or nothing 
from day to day, but the required portions of the breviary. 
Vast numbers of them never composed a sermon in their 
lives. Many of them never preach at all, or, if they do, it is 
only on the festivals and great occasions ; and then they avail 

34 As to the dress of the cardinals and pope, their carriages, the trappings of their 
horses, and the liveries of their servants, it is astonishing to see how much the 
scarlet predominates over every other color in them. It would really seem as if 
they were determined to fulfil to the letter the predictions contained in the Apoca- 
lypse, respecting the mystical Babylon. 



240 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

themselves of the many helps which they find prepared for 
their use. 

What a contrast between the labors of the Protestant 
clergy of these United States, and those of the vast host of 
the Roman Catholic clergy, regular and secular, in Italy ! 
We have more than twenty-five thousand ministers c f the 
gospel in the different branches of the Protestant Church in 
this country, most of whom preach not only once but several 
times during every week in the year. Most of them, besides 
these public labors, which cost them no little reading, reflec- 
tion, and in many cases writing, have many others to per- 
form, such as visiting the sick and dying, looking after the 
poor, instructing the youth in Bible-classes, and watching 
over the spiritual state of the members of their flocks, — to 
say nothing of a great deal of business of a general nature, 
relating to the interests of religion or philanthropy. Whilst 
in Italy, the greater part of the Roman Catholic priests and 
monks, notwithstanding their great number, preach but little, 
nor do much in the way of giving that instruction in religion 
or letters, which they might so easily impart if they had a 
heart to do it. There ought not to be a child in all Italy, of 
a suitable age, growing up without a good education, and 
sound religious scriptural instruction ; for there are priests, 
monks, and nuns in abundance, to prevent it. And there is 
a clergy there, sufficiently numerous to cause the glorious 
gospel to be preached, not only in the churches ^ on the Sab- 
bath, but more or less frequently in almost every private 
house, at some appropriate hour, during the week. But, 
instead of this, the most that the priests and monks do in the 



35 Numerous as are the churches in Italy, they would be wholly insufficient, in 
the larger villages and towns, to accommodate all the people of a proper age, if 
they would attend at the same regular hours to hear preaching, with appropriate 
prayers, as in our Protestant churches, instead of mass, or merely a liturgical ser- 
vice. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY. 241 

way of public religious service, is to say mass, and repeat 
matins and vespers. ^ Tl^at they devote much of their time 
to hearing confessions, visiting the sick, administering the 
sacraments, etc., we do not deny. And many of those who 
conscientiously devote themselves to these vocations, are cer- 
tainly ;reatly occupied. That this is the case, however, with 
the mass of priests and monks in that country, no one can. 
possibly affirm, who knows any thing about it. 

That there are some worthy, simple-hearted, sincere, and 
excellent men among the Roman Catholic clergy in Italy, is 
what we firmly believe. But that there is a vast number of 
a very different character, is the testimony of every intelligent 
and candid Italian with whom we have ever conversed, as 
well as of every foreigner who has resided long enough there 
to be able to form a just opinion. Now it is undeniable that 
worthless men are sometimes found in the ministry of Prot- 
estant churches ; but there is nothing to compare with what 
exists in Italy, or else we have been wholly misinformed^ 
even by excellent Catholics in that country, as well as by 
converted priests, who knew their country well. It is cer- 
tainly a general opinion in Italy, that very many of the 
secular, or parish clergy, are corrupt in their lives. That 
there is a great deal of wickedness among the monks is 
also asserted. How often have we heard it said in Italy, by 
Italians themselves, that many of the clergy, of all grades, are 
skeptics and infidels. What proportion are such, no one 
knows ; but it is believed that there are thousands. Yery 
different is the character of the French, Swiss, and German 
Roman Catholic priests. 

That a very small proportion of the priests and monks in 
Italy possess, and read the Sacred Scriptures, in any lan- 
guage, is what no Roman Catholic of that country will 

36 Momine^ and evening prayers. 

21 



242 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

venture to deny. How then can it be expected that they 
should have much clear knowledge of the glorious plan of 
salvation, which the Bible reveals ? We have often talked 
with priests and monks in that country, on this subject, and 
have been deeply pained to see how utterly ignorant they 
were of the very first elements of the blessed gospel. 

IX. State of the Monastic Establishments in Italy, 

Monastic establishments are numerous in all parts of Italy. 
Almost all the orders, including their various branches, have 
convents, or what is equivalent, ^ in greater or less numbers, 
in that country. We propose to say a few words respecting 
the present state of these establishments, both male and 
female. 

From all that we have been able to learn, when in Italy, 
we should think that there is a considerable difference in the 
state of the monasteries and convents in the different parts of 
that country. ^ We hold the opinion, that those in Tuscany 
are far better regulated, and probably contain a greater num- 
ber of seriously-minded, and we would fain hope, pious per- 
sons, than those in any other portion of that land. The 
worst, we are inclined to believe, are those in the pope's do- 
minions. Those in the kingdom of Naples, and in the Estates 
of Sardinia, as well as those in the Duchies of Modena and 
Parma, are probably not much better than those in the king- 
dom of his Holiness. 

A friend, in whose piety and judgment we have great con- 
fidence, visited, two or three years ago, a number of the 
monasteries in Tuscany, and was much pleased with the se- 
rious and candid spirit of inquiry which he found to prevail in 

87 The Professed Houses of the Jesuits are, after all, nothing more nor less than 
monasteries without the name. 

38 There is also a difterence between those of the different orders. The Capu- 
chins are, we believe, still the strictest of all the orders. Perhaps the Theatines 
are their equals. They were once their superiors. 



MONASTERIES. 243 

the minds of some of the monks, especially the younger ones. 
He found, also, some cases of apparently real, though not 
well enlightened piety, which interested him greatly. But if 
there be any truth in what we heard respecting the monas- 
teries in the Roman States, the kingdom of Naples, and some 
other parts of Italy, when in that country, the state of things 
in many of them must be horrible. Nor is it possible for us 
to disbelieve all that is reported about these institutions. 
We have known several Italian monks who, having come to 
the knowledge of the errors of Romanism, in the monasteries 
in which they were, have abandoned them forever. We can- 
not give their names without exposing them to great perils. 
We have also read what several others have published over 
their own names, on this subject. It cannot be that such men 
as Giustiniani ^ and Ciocci, ^ who give the names of places 
and individuals with such frequency and particularity, as 
weU as dates, would have dared to say what they have done, 
unless the facts which they relate were true. Their books 
are before the world. Their authors appeal boldly to many 
persons in Rome, whom they name, to confirm or contradict 
the assertions which they make. And what a picture do 
they present, not only of the dishonorable and dishonest 
measures which are sometimes resorted to, to induce young 
men to enter these establishments as novices, ^ of the means 



39 Fapal Rome as it is. By L. Giustiniani, T>. T>. Published at the Publication 
Rooms of the Lutheran Church, Baltimore, 1843. 

40 A Narrative of Iniquities and Barbarities practised hy Papal Rome in the Nineteenth 
Century. By Raffaele Ciocci, formerly a Benedictine and Cistercian monk. Stu- 
dent and Librarian of the Papal College of San Bernardo, alle Terme Diocleziane, 
in Rome. Philadelphia, 1844. 

41 Ciocci entered the monastery of San Bernardo, at Rome, under the idea that 
he was going there to study philosophy for two years ! Both himself and his par- 
ents were deceived, though the latter yielded afterwards, as they in fact wished 
him to pursue the monastic life, and he was forced to remain six years in the 
clutches of the monks, before he could escape. The interference of the pope was 
invoked in vain for his rescue. Willing or unwilling, it was determined to make 



244 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

which are employed to overcome the rekictance of those who 
abhor the life of a monk, and of the criminal and shameful 
deeds which are sometimes perpetrated within their walls. ^ 

That the monasteries and convents of Italy contain a great 
deal of gross ignorance of the true nature of religion, as well 
as of all true science, and that they contain also much shame- 
ful vice and atrocious wickedness, will not appear surprising 
to one who has known any thing of the history of such estab- 
lishments from the first. What can be more appalling than 
the state in which the late Scipio Ricci, for a time bishop of 
Pistoia and Prato, in Tuscany, found those of his diocess ? ^ 

The fact is, the monasteries of Italy, of every religious 
order, are generally well endowed, and some of them are 
very rich foundations, created by the gifts and bequests of 
wealthy men, who, living or dying, have thought to propitiate 
heaven by such acts. To get a place for a son in such an 
institution, where he is sure to enjoy pleasant quarters and a 
comfortable, and even luxurious maintenance, must be an 

him a monk. His Narrative ought to be read by all who wish to know what Rome 
is in the nineteenth century. 

42 Giustiniani declares, that three of the holy fathers of the monastery in which he 
spent three months at Rome, that of the Minorites, or Cordeliers, (a branch of the 
Franciscans,) committed sodomy upon the person of a youth of sixteen, one of the 
novices, who, after having undergone such brutality, or beastiality rather, was left 
in the garret to die of hunger! Papal Rome as it is, pp. 152-154, And yet the 
authors of this monstrous wickedness were not punished ; they were only removed 
to another monastery, to prevent scandal ! 

Ciocci does not merely insinuate, he openly asserts, that several young men of 
his monastery were taken off by poison, for having entered into an association to 
found an institution in which the Bible should be read and followed ! He declares 
that he himself was near losing his life from poison ! He asserts that Alberico 
Amatori, the author of the scheme, a good man, was sent to another monastery, 
situated in an unhealthy place, where he died shortly of fever. A Narrative, etc., 
pp. 54, 55. 

43 On this subject the reader is referred to the very remarkable work of M. de 
Potter, entitled : Vie et Memoires de Scipion Ricci; published in Paris and Brussels, 
but in a more complete form in the latter, and translated into English, by T. Roscoe, 
in 1829. 



MONASTERIES. 245 

object dear to the heart of many a father in that country, 
where the priesthood is held in so much esteem, and where, 
owing to the greatness of the population, and the want of fa- 
cilities for acquiring wealth, the difficulty of providing well for 
a numerous family is so great. On the other hand, the ' holy 
fathers' of these monasteries are ever zealous in drawing 
into them young men, especially those who possess talents, or 
are heirs to considerable estates, for the triple purpose of 
promoting, as they would deem it, the cause of the Church, 
the salvation of souls, and the honor and resources of their 
respective establishments. It is to be feared that the first 
and the last of these reasons are far more powerful than the 
second. 

Each monastery has a superior, a prior, and a certain 
number of monks, besides the novices, or young men who are 
passing the preliminary period of trial, and of study, (in those 
where study is pursued, such as the Benedictine, Barnabite, 
etc.) The number of members depends upon the amount of 
revenue which each possesses. Some of these estabhshments, 
which have extensive accommodations and large revenues, 
have many inmates. Others again, whose incomes are small, 
have but few. The authority is chiefly in the hands of the 
superior, who is aided, however, by the prior, who is the 
chaplain and generally the confessor of the establishment, 
and the monks, especially those who are the most advanced 
in age. The whole are often spoken of under the designa- 
tion of the ^holy fathers.' The superiors and priors are 
chosen, in most of the orders, for five years, at a convocation 
of all the superiors of their respective orders. The general 
of each order is chosen on the same occasions by the assem- 
bled superiors. And the affairs of all the orders, including 
all complaints and appeals, are discussed, and decided upon 
by the ' Holy Convocation of Bishops and Regulars,' which 
21* 



246 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

meets from time to time in Eome, and over whose delibera- 
tions the pope presides, and whose decisions he signs. ^ 

That some of the monks are seriously-minded, have truly 
religious dispositions, and are sincerely endeavoring to serve 
God, although in a very mistaken way, we firmly believe. 
There are some instances, even in Rome itself, of monks who 
seem to be spiritually-minded, and love the Word of God. 
Alas, these cases, we have reason to fear, are very few. On 
the contrary, pride, envy, jealousy, indolence, voluptuousness, 
lust, and other vices, reign to an awful extent in these estab- 
lishments. And how could it be otherwise ? Excepting the 
comparatively small number who enter from a consciousness 
of human infirmity, and a desire to escape the temptations 
and sins of the world, those who join these establishments, 
especially in Italy, seem to do it for the purpose of securing 
a comfortable, if not a luxurious . support for life. The 
monks and the convicts are, in fact, almost the only persons in 
that country who are sure of a living. And whatever may 
be the labors and sufferings of the latter, it is certain that 
the duties of the former, though mechanically performed, as 
they too frequently are, cannot be considered yery onerous. 
Some monks there are in all parts of Italy, who are worthy 
of great praise for their benevolent spirit, and their abundant 
labors in visiting the poor and the sick in the neighborhoods 
of their respective monasteries — one of the objects for which 
such establishments were originally created. But the most 
of the monastic herd have no such reputation. They have 
not even the credit of being benevolent. It may indeed be 
said, that their vow of poverty leaves them in possession of 

44 Ciocci, in his Narrative^ p. 74, gives a singular instance of the justice which 
reigns in this Holy Convocation, and guides its decisions, vi^hen he tells the world 
that this august tribunal annulled his monastic vows, and yet declared that he 
roight never marry, because he had been for a time a monk, though contrary to his 
will! However, this is not worse than a decision in a French court, a few years 
ago, relating to a case similar in its main features. 



MONASTERIES. 247 

nothing. But this is not strictly true in most cases, and if it 
were, the resources of the monasteries are sufficient to put 
their members in possession of the means of doing something 
to relieve the wants of those who are compelled to beg. 
Doubtless something is done to relieve the wants of those 
who go to the monasteries to beg bread, but it is a singular 
fact, that has been noticed by others as well as ourselves, that 
the poor beggars who sit in rags at the corners of the streets 
in Eome and Naples, unable to walk, and imploring alms in 
the name of God and all the saints, instantly cease from their 
appeals, and bow their heads in reverent silence, if a priest 
or a monk pass by, even although he deign not to bestow the 
slightest attention upon them. ^^ 

No manner of life can be more monotonous than that of 
the great majority of the monks in Italy, save that of a con- 
vict in a treadmill or a penitentiary. Twice to the chapel 
every day, once a week to the confessional and to the com- 
munion, read a few paragraphs of the breviary at certain 
hours, — this is somethiug like the routine of most of the 
members of the monasteries in that country. It must be 
said, however, that there is no want of good cheer at their 
tables. The best of coffee or chocolate for breakfast ; a glass 
of wine and a biscuit for luncheon ; excellent soup, roast and 
boiled meat, fruit, cheese, bread in abundance, and wine at 
discretion for dinner; pappina (a species of soup), a portion 
of meat or fish, salad, cheese, and fruit, for supper, — such 
was the fare of the poor monks, according to Ciocci, ^ of the 
monastery of San Bernardo, at Rome. On festivals and holy- 
days it was even better. Certainly, poor as such fare is, it is 
sufficient to keep them from absolute starvation ! We found 



45 See Memoranda of Foreign Travel, by Rev. R.J, Breckinridge, D. D.,vol. i. pp. 
164-167. 

46 Narrative of Iniquities and Barbarities of Rome, etc. p. 29. 



248 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

the impression to be general in Italy, right or wrong, that 
the holy fathers of the monasteries live well. 

But in whatever way the worldly spirit which prevails at 
present in the monasteries in Italy may manifest itself, and 
whatever variety there may be in the vices which reign 
in them, there is one thing that is uniformly found there, 
namely, an extreme vigilance to exclude every thing like the 
glorious gospel of Christ, the ' Truth as it is in Jesus.' ' I 
once asked for a Bible,' says Dr. Giustiniani, ^ and the father 
confessor promised me one ; but as he never attended to his 
promises, I renewed my request after a few days, when he 
refused, saying, ' that I must read such hooks as edify^ and 
make a good Franciscan friar, and not the Bihle, which loould 
only satisfy my pride and carnal mind, ^^ Just so ; Rome 
desires not so much to make true Christians, as to proselyte 
and gain partisans, and in so doing she gives manifest proofs 
of being a reprobate Church, according to the decision of our 
blessed Lord, in relation to the conduct of the Pharisees. 
Math. 23:15. 

Next to their hatred of every thing which they call heresy, 
(by which they especially designate whatever resembles 
Protestantism,) is the jealousy and the aversion which the 
different orders of Rome display towards one another. ' The 
Religious Orders,' says Ciocci, ' which Rome has made it her 
care to multiply under her banner, esteeming them her Jani- 
zaries, jealous of each other's power, are constantly at war 
among themselves ; in one point only do they agree — that of 
laying aside their private animosities for the purpose of act- 
ing in unison against the secular clergy. Numerous as are 
her divisions, Rome boasts the unity of which she makes 
herself the centre — as if speculative unity was sufficient — 
and as though charity were not requisite to form the unity of 



47 Papal Rome as it is, p. 151. 



MONASTERIES. 



249 



that body of which St. Paul speaks in the twelfth chapter of 
Romans, v. 5 : " So we,, being many, are one body in Christ, 
and every one members one of another." Are the divisions 
with which she reproaches Christians, who protest against 
her, contrary to the unity of faith and charity ? The causes 
of the division between brotherhood and brotherhood, and 
between these and the priests, in the Church of Rome, are 
strikingly worldly ; they are to be traced to pride, avarice, 
turpitude. The unity of the Romish Faith has man for its 
centre, and the means by which the parts are united, are also 
of themselves merely human — force, chains, persecutions. 
Is there not in the Evangelical Church, which Rome calls 
heretical, the true unity ? The Bible is the common centre, 
and the Bible is the word of God.' ^ 

When we consider the motives which have influenced the 
greater part of those who are pursuing the monastic life to 
enter these establishments, and the little instruction of a 
truly scriptural and spiritual character which they receive 
there, we cannot greatly wonder that the monasteries in Italy 
should contain so much ignorance, immorality, and infi- 
delity. *^ It is a mode of life which cannot be considered as 
favorable to the highest attainments in virtue, which can 
only be reached by the courageous and faithful performance 
of the duties which we owe to God, and to our fellow-men. 
A cowardly shrinking from these, under the pretence of 
withdrawing from the temptations of the world, merits a very 



48 Narrative of Iniquities and Barbarities, etc., pp. 69, 70. 

49 An English gentleman who had resided long in Italy, and obtained lodgings in 
a monastery, was frequently engaged in friendly discussions with the most intelli- 
gent individuals of the house, on points of difference between the Churches of 
Rome and England. On the termination of one of these disputes, after the greater 
part of the company had retired, a young monk, who had supported the tenets of 
his Church with great ability, turning to his English guest, asked him if he really 
believed what he had been defending. On his answering seriously in the affirma- 
tive, the monk exclaimed, ' Allor lei crede piu che tutto il convento. — Then, Sir, 
you believe more than the whole convent.' — Dohlado^s Letters^ p. 476. 



250 



ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 



different epithet than virtuous or holy. Among the Italians 
themselves, the life of a monk is far from being considered a 
very honorable one, by a large portion of the intelligent and 
elevated classes. Even the courteous and more refined 
Jesuit looks down with contempt upon the monks ; for 
although he has taken the same vow of poverty ^ which all 
the monks take, yet he prides himself upon his more citizen- 
like and gentlemanly costume and appearance, (which cer- 
tainly does contrast favorably with the grotesque and beg- 
garly garb of the monks,) as well as upon the more simple 
and common-sense style of living which prevails in the 
Houses of the Professed, than in the prison-like monasteries, 
conducted with the strictness which reigns in a college of 
half-grown and unruly youths, and where a religious life has 
all the gloominess which attaches to that of an ascetic and an 
anchorite. 

X. Character of the Religion of the Italians. 

That the religion of a people takes more or less of a cer- 
tain hue from their peculiar character, is a fact too well 
established to be denied. 

It has been remarked by distinguished authors who have 
written of the Spanish people, that their religious views and 
feelings are closely allied to their ideas of chivalry, or rather 
have been moulded by the chivalrous and warlike spirit of 
that people. With them, Christianity, or in other words the 
Roman Catholic religion, — for they have no conception of 

50 This vow of poverty originally obliged those v^^ho took it, literally to depend 
upon charity, and often compelled them to ask it. Hence the origin of the epithet 
mendicant. But the monks, who now-a-days reside in the rich establishments 
which the gifts of the people, or of the princes of a less enlightened and more su- 
perstitious age for the most part founded, have discovered an easy way to fulfil the 
task of begging, to which they consider their vow as still binding them. It is 
enough to turn out and beg the meanest trifle once a year, — as, for instance, a 
handful of meal, a bunch of grapes, or a few grains of salt! 



RELIGIOUS CHARACTER. 251 

any other species of Christianity, — is associated with the 
wars which their ancestors carried on with the infidel Moors, 
three hundred years ago, in the days of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, the Catholic, a period in the history of the country 
which has been celebrated in song, as emphatically the reign 
of chivalry; when the valiant Christian knight met the 
Moslem warrior, on the field of battle, not only to vindicate 
his religion, but also to avenge the insults which proud Cas- 
tilian maids had suffered from Moorish tyrants. To be an 
' infidel ' or ' heretic ' is to be something more in the estima- 
tion of a Spaniard, than the enemy of his religion, — that of 
the ' Holy, Apostolical, Catholic Church,' — it is equivalent 
to being also an enemy of his country, and the friend of its 
ancient enemies. It is to be even more than that ; it is to be 
not only the enemy of his religion and his country, but the 
enemy of his fair, his idolized countrywomen. 

The Spaniard loves the Madonna, not only because she 
was the mother of the Saviour, but because his imagination 
conceives her to be the most beautiful of women, the very 
prototype, as it were, of the dulcinea whom he not only loves 
but adores. His religion partakes of all this, and is a com- 
pound, of which the ingredients are a species of indefinable 
reverence for the Divine Being, heroic patriotism, and chiv- 
lalric adoration of the fair sex. And to kill heretics and 
exterminate heresy, he feels that not only duty to God and 
His cause, but also patriotism and chivalry unite in calKng 
him. 

But the type of an Italian's religion differs greatly from 
that of the Iberian. To his mind Christianity invests itself 
with no such associations as those which it wears in the view 
of the inhabitants of the Western Peninsula. With him it is 
connected rather with the fine arts. In Italy, the Catholic 
religion has had undisturbed, and almost undisputed, posses- 
sion for many, many centuries. It has had no crusades to 



2o2 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

make, in order to expel from those shores hostile Musselmen. 
It has flourished there in peace, and been promoted bj the 
^ne arts, which are emphatically arts of peace. It is asso- 
ciated, in the feelings of the less warlike Italians, with fine 
churches, whose exterior displays an admirable architecture, 
and whose interior is adorned with every thing which can 
please the taste. Proud columns of marble sustain the beau- 
tiful arches which uphold the painted vault, and the noble 
dome. Various marbles, wrought into mosaics, form the 
floor. Splendid pictures and statues adorn the chapels on 
each side. The choir, with its beautifully carved seats, where 
priests recite the prayers of the various services, and the 
prescribed portions of Scripture, with their peculiar ca- 
dences ; the great altar, at which mass is often said with so 
much pomp and circumstance ; the gorgeous robes of the 
priests ; the sweet odors of frankincense, which exhale from 
burning censers ; and the sweeter strains of delicious music ; 
all these concur to form associations in the mind of an Italian 
Roman Catholic, which are perfectly enchanting. The 
pleasurable emotions which these striking objects of sense 
excite, are, there is reason to fear, habitually mistaken by 
multitudes for that devotion of the heart which God requires. 
The religion of the people of Italy is emphatically the 
religion of sentiment ; and every fine art, — painting, music^ 
architecture, sculpture, — has been rendered tributary to it. 
To enjoy the above-described sweet emotions, when connected" 
with the services of the Church, which these create in warm 
and excitable temperaments, is the highest religious happi- 
ness, in the estimation of the masses in that country, who 
have a capacity to enjoy them. But these feelings, however 
pleasant, having nothing in them of the nature of true hoi - 
ness, and being withal extremely evanescent, it is not won- 
derful that those, whose religion consists mainly in them, 
should experience nothing of that moral renovation which 



STATE OF MORALITY. 253 

they so much need, nor of that internal peace which flows 
from faith, not in a cross of wood, but in Him who died on a 
cross for our sins. And here is the grand defect of the 
Eoman Cathtilic religion. It consists too much in the emo- 
tions which are created by sensible objects, or exciting pic- 
tures presented to the imagination, by the perpetual refer- 
ence to material things, made by preachers and confessors,, 
and too little in those intelligible and purifying feelings of 
true sorrow for sin, of faith in Christ, and of love to the infi- 
nitely blessed and glorious Jehovah, which nothing but the 
Holy Spirit can produce in the heart of any man. 

XI. State of Morality in Italy, 

That the morals of a people will correspond with their 
religion, is a position which none will be so hardy as to deny. 
This being the case, what, we may be allowed to ask, could 
we expect the morality of Italy to be ? Certainly not of a 
very elevated character. A heathenized Christianity, a 
religion in which an idolatry almost as gross as that of the 
ancient Romans and Greeks, is taught to a people for the 
most part ignorant and degraded, cannot be expected to pro- 
duce an elevated morality. What can we hope from the 
moral teachings of a Church, which still attempts to deceive 
the people with lying wonders, with absurd miracles, ^ con- 



si In the city of Naples is annually exhibited the ridiculous'farce of the liquefac- 
tion of the blood of St. Gennaro, or Januarius. This saint, according to tradition^ 
after having been bishop for several years of Benevento, was beheaded at Pozza- 
oli, in the early part of the fourth century. He early became the patron of Naples. 
It is said that his body lies in the cathedral, but that his head, and a vial filled with 
his blood, are in a chapel. The priests pretend that this blood liquefies on the 
saint's day, the first Sabbath in May, as on two other occasions annually. If it turn 
very red and becomes quite liquid, it is a good omen. But if it melt with difficulty 
and remain blackish, it bodes evil. If it melt not at all, consternation seizes the 
vast multitude assembled to witness the scene ! This happened, it is said, when 
the French took possession of Naples, in the days of Napoleon. But the command- 

22 



254 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

trived bj priestly cunning, in order to hold in bondage weak 
and superstitious souls, and which are even the subjects of 
ridicule among the well-informed ? 

That the influence of the Roman Catholic Church upon 
the manners and lives of the people of Italy is not likely to be 
very salutary, will appear quite probable when we consider 
how little calculated it is to secure that effect. Instead of 
inculcating the duty of reading the Sacred Scriptures, which 
are the only true source of all sound moral instruction, — for 
they contain the only revelation which God has given to man, 
and impart unto us the knowledge which we need, of the ex- 
istence and character of our Creator, of our relations to him, 
of our duties to him and to our fellow-men, and of the way 
by which we may secure his favor and eternal life, < — Rome 
sends the people to the perusal of the lives of the saints, and 
books of a similar stamp, ^^ and deprives them of the Sacred 
Oracles, save the portions which are to be found in her ser- 
vice-books, the missal and the breviary. Under the pretence 
that there are passages in the Word of God which should not 
be read by the common people, she in effect deprives them 



ing general, knowing ihat the city would soon be in a state of riot, sent a message 
to the archbishop, to the effect, that if the blood of St. Januarius did not melt very 
promptly, his (the archbishop's) should flow in its stead. The miracle soon look 
place ! The scenes which annually occur at the chapel of this saint, the violent 
prayers and imprecations, if the priests do not cause the blood to liquefy promptly, 
beggar all description, and recall the mad revelry of similar ones among the ancient 
pagans. But other things equally silly are done in all parts of Italy in the name of 
Christianity. Pieces of the true cross, the table around which the Saviour and his 
disciples partook of the Passover for the last time, the chain with which Peter was 
bound, the stairs which belonged to the house of Pilate, pictures of the Virgin made 
by St. Luke, etc., etc., besides the bones of innumerable martyrs, are still shown, as 
things of great efficacy, at Rome, as they were three hundred years ago. And 
what did Rome in the middle ages, that was worse than the late exhibition of the 
Saviour's coat, at Treves? 

52 We saw among the Tracts, which the priests distribute among the people at 
Florence, one in praise of the Virgin Mary, which was in the shape of her foot, and 
was exactly its length and breadth ! 



STATE OF MORALITY. 255 

of the whole volume, just as if our heavenly Father did not 
know how to make a book which might be read with safety 
by those for whom it was intended ! And what is the conse- 
quence ? It is, that wherever the Bible is unknown, there 
the very vices, which those parts of it that Rome thinks dan- 
gerous expose and condemn, abound to an awful degree, and 
are even to be found, as we have already stated, within the 
walls of the monasteries ! 

Secondly, instead of bringing the great truths of God's 
Word as frequently and directly as possible into contact with 
the minds and hearts of the people, from the pulpit, and in 
the Bible-class and Sunday school, Eome contents herself 
greatly with liturgical services, in a language unknown to 
the people ; whilst preaching forms but a small part of what 
is done in the house of God. Matins, vespers, and high 
mass, are the principal public services in most of the Roman 
Catholic churches, save on extraordinary occasions, festivals 
and holy seasons, such as Lent, etc. 

Again. Instead of sending the awakened sinner directly to 
God, teaching him that there is no intercessor but Jesus Christ, 
and urging him truly to confess his sins to God, sincerely to 
repent of them, and humbly to ask for their forgiveness for 
the sake of Christ's merits, Rome interposes a human con- 
fessor and a confessional, and whatever may have been her 
original purpose in all this, the effect upon the masses is, to 
lead them to believe that, having confessed to a priest and 
received absolution, all is right. As this can take place 
without a change of heart, or the springing up in the soul of 
holy emotions and resolutions, it is not surprising to hear of 
the bandit and pirate, as weU as the public woman, returning 
from the confessional to their wicked pursuits, apparently 
with the full assurance that the old score of sins is cancelled, 
and a new one may be commenced when it suits their desires 
and their convenience. 



256 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

And, lastly. To destroy what little there may remain of 
moral restraint, there comes in the doctrine of indulgences, 
dispensations, etc., by which the principles of eternal justice 
are suspended, to allow the evil-doer greater latitude for 
doing what it would not be otherwise lawful for him to do. 

Can we wonder, after considering all this, that immorality 
should prevail greatly in countries where the Koman Catho- 
lic Church is dominant, and especially in Italy, where it is 
completely so ? Would it not be marvellous if it were other- 
wise ? 

Including pope, cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, 
generals of orders, superiors, priors, monks, nuns, it has been 
computed that in Italy there is one person consecrated to 
religion, on an average, for forty-five inhabitants. Now, pos- 
sessing such a moral force as this, if Rome is indeed the true 
and only Church of Christ, and He really dwells in her, Italy 
ought to be the holiest land on earth, for no other country is 
so abundantly provided for, as it regards religious teachers. 
But is Italy the holiest land on the earth ? If it be so, all 
we have to say is, that she is the most enormously slandered 
country in the world ; for nothing is more certain than that 
she is believed to be one of the most immoral, if not the most 
so, of all portions of Christendom, at least, so far as the Old 
World is concerned. 

And what is absolutely confounding is the fact, that in pro- 
portion as you approach the city of Rome, come from which 
end of Italy you may, bad government, physical desolation, 
poverty, ignorance, irreligion, vice, crime, all increase I This 
is inexplicable. And when you reach Rome, and enter 
within the walls of the Eternal City, you will find less of 
true piety and purity of morals than in any other city in all 
Christendom, if we may credit the testimony of Romans 
themselves. 

When we visited Rome, in the year 1837, one of the first 



STATE OF MORALITY. 257 

tilings we heard tlie distinguislied individuals, both natives 
and foreigners, to whom we bore letters of introduction saj, 
was, that we had come to the worst place within all the limits 
of the Roman Catholic world to see what religion is. This 
remark is heard by strangers from all quarters, upon their 
arrival in Rome. And yet that city is the abode of the so- 
styled Yicar of Christ, the centre of the whole Christian 
world, the seat of all the mighty influences which the Vatican 
sends forth throughout the earth ! Why is this ? We leave 
to others to assign the reasons, for we cannot, upon the sup- 
position that the Roman Catholic religion is a true type and 
expression of the gospel. 

As to the alleged immoralities which prevail in Italy, in- 
cluding infidelity to the marriage relation, ^ the absence of 
domestic happiness in so many families, the want of strict 
honesty in the business classes, the want of female virtue in 
the large cities and towns, etc., etc., we will not undertake 
to speak of them. That there is much vice — less open, 
indeed, than in most other countries, it is true — in Italy, is 
what is conceded by all. That the state of things is much 
better, in this respect, than it was three centuries ago, we 
seriously doubt. The same superstitions,^ and the same 
sins prevail now as at the epoch of the Reformation. 

53 In relation to the custom of a married lady's having her cicisbeo^ or cavaliere ser- 
vante^ who waits on her in society and at public amusements, whilst it still exists 
in all parts of Italy, it has greatly declined at Rome, where we were assured by 
excellent citizens, that the presence of so many Protestants with their families, from 
England, Germany, Switzerland, and America, and who, taken as a body, exhibit 
a domestic life incomparably better than that of the people of that city, has had the 
effect of nearly banishing it from society. 

54 Crowds of poor deluded people still go up the Sccda Santa, or stairs of Pontius 
Pilate's house, as in the lime when Luther visited the Eternal City, more than 
three hundred years ago. We doubt whether the number has at all diminished. 
Would that the same effect might be produced on their minds, as was produced on 
that of the Reformer ! 

22* 



258 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

XII. Encouraging Signs in relation to Italy, 

But, dark as is the religious and moral picture of Italy, 
there are some lighter shades which we may contemplate 
with pleasure. We shall endeavor to present them to the 
eye of the reader. 

1. It is well known that there are two classes of people 
who are tired of Romanism, one composed of those intelligent 
and ardent minds who detest tyranny, and earnestly desire to 
see their country put in possession of constitutional and well- 
regulated liberty. These all, more or less, abhor the Roman 
Catholic hierarchy, and especially the papacy, because it has 
hitherto, and in all circumstances, been the friend and sup- 
porter of despotism. This fact the Abbe de la Mennais has 
admirably exposed, in his work entitled Rome, And in that 
same work he has faithfully warned the Roman Catholic 
Church of the danger which will result from such a position. 
The other class comprehends those seriously-minded and 
well-informed people who have sought in vain, in the bosom 
of the Roman Catholic Church, for a religion such as their 
immortal spirits demand. The inability of Rome to meet the 
spiritual wants of humanity has been demonstrated by an 
increased experience of three centuries. And this has 
become still more apparent to those in Italy who have had 
some opportunities to learn the simple, evangelical, elevating, 
transforming nature of the Protestant religion, as presented 
in the writings of the Reformers, and those who have since 
their day held the same Faith. These two classes of persons, 
though comparatively small, are not inconsiderable ; and they 
are prepared to welcome a purer religion when it shall be 
presented to them. 

And though we do not attach so much importance to the 
fact as some others, (because of his very limited power and 
influence,) yet it ought to be mentioned, that the Duke of 



ENCOURAGING SIGNS. 259 

Lucca is no longer a Eoman Catholic ; he is in reality a Prot- 
estant. ^^ Upon the death of the present Duchess of Parma, 
he will succeed her, if he should survive her, in the govern- 
ment of that duchy, which is much more extensive and im- 
portant than that of Lucca. What evidence this prince gives 
in his life and conversation, of having savingly received the 
grace of God, we are not able to say ; but of one thing we are 
assured, which is, that there is one country in Italy, however 
small it may be, in which the Protestant religion will not be 
persecuted, so long as he reigns over it. 

2. A very laudable and growing interest in the subject of 
education, is certainly felt by a number of excellent persons 
in Italy, especially in Tuscany. The establishment of Infant 
schools at Florence, Pisa, and Leghorn is decisive proof of 
this. There is also further proof of it, in the publication of 
an able monthly journal in the first-named city, called Annali 
deir Educazionej which is conducted in an enhghtened and 
Christian spirit. Education is also making progress in the 
Lombardo- Venetian kingdom, as we have shown. 

3. One of the most encouraging facts in relation to Italy, 
is the desire, which is manifesting itself in various parts, to 
possess the Scriptures in the Italian language. This is a very 
remarkable fact. When the French overran that country, 
under the command of Napoleon as a general of the Eepub- 
lic, and afterwards, when he conquered and governed it as 
First Consul and Emperor of France, there was a great 
demand every where for books filled with infidelity. Whole 
editions of Voltaire, Diderot, Volney, etc., were carried from 
Paris into Italy during that period, for the French govern- 
ment interposed no obstacle. Some of the worst things 



55 The reigning Duke of Lucca is Charles Louis, who was bom the 22d of De- 
cember, 1799. He is an offshoot of the royal family of Spain. He received favora- 
ble impressions of the Protestant religion whilst travelling in Germany, several 
years ago, and chiefly from the conversations of a Protestant pastor. 



260 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

contained in the writings of those authors, were translated 
into the Italian language and published at Paris, and in Italy 
too. Several distinguished authors arose in that country 
during that period, whose writings are decidedly anti- 
religious. 

But a better day has dawned even upon Italy. There is 
a thirst excited in many souls for the pure Word of life. And 
thousands of copies of the Holy Scriptures are now annually 
introduced into that country, and readily find purchasers and 
readers. At what point these Bibles (and we may add other 
religious books and tracts) are entering Italy, we shall not 
undertake to indicate ; it is sufficient that we state what we 
know to be a fact. 

That books, which the pope causes to be put in the Index 
do get into Italy, is certain, and sometimes in considerable 
numbers. It must be remembered that the police of no part 
of Italy is amenable to the pope, but that of his own little 
kingdom. The police-officers of the other states are under 
no more obligation to obey his will than are those of any 
other country. The pope has no other than a moral influ- 
ence over them. And before he can reasonably expect them 
to execute his wishes faithfully, he ought to be assured of the 
fidelity of those of his own dominions. It will take some- 
thing better than Romanism to secure that result, or we are 
greatly mistaken. 

We might, if it were necessary or prudent, corroborate this 
statement respecting the desire to possess the Sacred volume, 
by many facts of the most interesting nature. One we may 
state, as it is notorious in the heart of Italy, w^here it has 
occurred. It is the recent publication of Martini's Italian 
version of the Bible, at Turin, where it has been issued in 
numbers, as we know, having seen them, as well as having 
read advertisements announcing it, posted up in several 
other towns in Piedmont, in the summer of 1843. This 



ENCOURAGING SIGNS. 261 

edition of the Scriptures was gotten up bj a bookseller, under 
the sanction of the Archbishop of Turin, and was altogether 
an affair of private enterprise and speculation. But no 
matter ; it furnishes proof positive of a demand for the Scrip- 
tures, on the part of the people, or no bookseller in Turin 
would have undertaken it. It is true, that it contains the 
Apocrypha, and sundry notes, from approved Roman Catho- 
lic authorities. Be it so ; we would infinitely rather that the 
Italians should have a faithful translation of the Vulgate, as 
that of Archbishop Martini unquestionably is, than none at 
all. Nor do we see how there can be another opinion. 

4. Lastly. We must not fail to notice the striking fact, 
that, in the providence of God, there are many Italians now 
residing out of Italy for commercial and other purposes, 
whom the Truth may be made to reach, — in the cantons of 
Ticino and the Grisons, in the Ionian Islands, in Malta, in 
the ports of the Levant, in Algiers, in Corsica, in Paris, Mar- 
seilles, etc., etc. To these we may add hundreds of men of 
distinguished minds, whom either Rome or political despot- 
ism has compelled to go into exile, and who are to be found 
in Switzerland, France, Germany, England, and America. 
And when they receive the Truth in the love of it, they will 
not be slow in endeavoring to find means to transmit it, some 
how or other, to their beloved and beautiful Italy. 

Such are some of the signs in relation to Italy that give us 
encouragement, and ought to stimulate to prayer and well- 
directed effort. 



CHAPTER III. 

PROTESTANT CHAPELS IN ITALY. 

In the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, 
there was Protestant worship in Venice, sustained by the 
Protestant Cantons of Switzerland, and the Protestant States 
of Germany, for the benefit of their legations, and of the 
persons connected with them. This service was frequented by 
such Protestant residents as had a desire to attend it. This 
toleration of the Protestant worship for the benefit of foreign- 
ers, was granted by the republic of Venice, from those 
motives of commercial interest which characterized her 
whole policy. During the reign of Napoleon, and the preva- 
lence of French power in Italy, a Protestant service in the 
German language, was established in Venice, which has con- 
tinued to this day. Of that service we shall speak at length, 
in another place. 

After the downfall of Napoleon, and the restoration of the 
old dynasties of Italy, Protestant chapels were opened in 
various cities, for the benefit of the many Protestants who 
annually go to that country in quest of health or pleasure. 
Besides these, who are only transient visitors, there is also a 
large class, consisting of traders, merchants, bankers, manu- 
facturers, artists, and mechanics, whose stay is much more 
prolonged, and some of whom, especially the last-named, 
remain all their days there, intermarry often with the 
natives, and become citizens. 

The foreign Protestants in Italy are from almost all the 



PROTESTANT CHAPELS. 263 

Protestant countries in the world. Several thousands of 
English, comprising many of the highest ranks, visit Rome, 
Florence, Naples, and other places in that land, every winter, 
for health or pleasure. And there are not a few who reside 
there for years, from motives of economy as well as for 
health. Next to the English, the Swiss are the most numer- 
ous. They go to Italy less for health or pleasure than for 
business. There are many Swiss manufacturers, merchants, 
bankers, and artisans, residing in Italy. Of Protestant Ger- 
mans there is a considerable number in Italy, including a 
good many young artists and students. Hundreds of Prot- 
estants from France and Hungary visit Italy every year. 
There are also Italian Protestants from the Canton of the 
Grisons, who reside mostly at Leghorn. In addition to all, 
there are Protestants from Holland, Denmark, Norway, 
Sweden, and the United States, in greater or less numbers, 
every winter. 

What the number of foreign Protestants in Italy is, every 
winter, it is hard to estimate ; it certainly amounts to many 
thousands. We have heard it reckoned to be as high as forty 
or fifty thousand. This we think to be an over-estimate. But 
we think it quite possible that it may be as much as thirty or 
thirty-five thousand. 

That it is of great moment to have Protestant places of 
worship, and faithful Protestant ministers in Italy, for the 
benefit of these thousands of souls, who are there greatly 
exposed, is too obvious to need an attempt to prove. Many 
of these persons go there to die ! They leave their homes in 
Protestant countries, and go to that land of spiritual darkness 
and death, in the hope of finding, beneath its mild skies, the 
health which they have lost. But they often find, alas, that 
they must end their days there, far from the sanctuaries 
which they had so often, and with so much dehght, fre- 



264 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

quented in the lands of tlieir birth, and from the spiritual 
guides, whose counsels and prayers they now so much need. 

Others visit Italy, it may be in health, attracted thither 
either by business or pleasure, but without fixed principles of 
religion. That such are in danger of losing their feelings of 
respect for the Sabbath and for the ordinances which God 
has appointed for their spiritual benefit, is proved by the 
many shipwrecks of religion and morals which such persons 
make, even during a transient stay theie. Much more do 
they need to have the gospel and all its hallowed institutions 
meet them there, if they are going to make a protracted resi- 
dence in that country, for they will be beset by those who 
will leave no stone unturned in order to gather them into the 
fold of Rome. 

These considerations have led many persons, in various 
countries in Europe, and some of them of high rank and 
station, to see the desirableness of having Protestant chapels 
and chaplains sustained in Italy, for the benefit of the 
Protestants of all nations who visit that country. Among 
these, influential English, Germans, and Swiss have taken 
the lead. And as the Italian princes, including the pope 
himself, owe much to Protestant England and Protestant 
Prussia, — for had it not been for them, and especially En- 
gland, it is probable that not one of them would be now on 
his throne, — they have had substantial reasons for yielding 
to the pressing instance of those two governments, that their 
subjects, as well as the Protestants from other countries, 
might enjoy their own religious worship whilst residing in 
Italy. It is owing to this urgency, that Protestant chapels 
have sprung up in various cities in that land, in which the 
gospel is preached ; in some, during the autumn, winter, and 
spring ; in others, and they are the greater number, during 
the whole year. 

Having made these preliminary remarks, we proceed to 



PROTESTANT CHAPELS AT ROME. 265 

speak briefly, in detail, of these chapels, relating such facts 
and incidents respecting them as naay interest the reader. 
We begin at the Eternal City. 

I. Protestant Chapels at Rome. 

There are two Protestant chapels at Rome, one for the 
benefit of the English, or rather of all who speak the English 
language ; and the other for those who speak the German. 

The English chapel stands without the wall of the city, on 
the northeastern side, and near the Porta del Popolo. ^ It 
is a large room in a private house, fitted up for public wor- 
ship. It is a convenient place, and will accommodate some 
five or six hundred persons. During the winter season, or 
rather from October to June, it is well filled, for the number 
of the English who visit Rome during that portion of the 
year is great, — often exceeding three and even four thou- 
sand. In addition to these, there is usually a considerable 
number of Americans. 

The English service at Rome, like that which exists else- 
where in Italy, is Episcopal. The minister, the Rev. Mr. 
Hutchinson, is a member of the Established Church of En- 
gland. He is a very worthy man, and much respected by 
all who know him. This service was commenced, we 
believe, about the year 1825, by the Rev. Dr. Burgess, who 
now preaches in the vicinity of London. ^^ He was for a 
number of years the excellent chaplain of the Enghsh at 
Rome. 

This service is maintained by the voluntary contributions 
of the English and Americans who visit Rome. In all the 

56 The Gate of the People. It is through this gate that one passes when setting- 
out in the diligence, or stage, for the city of Florence, and other places in the north 
of Italy. 

57 Dr. Burgess is author of an excellent work on Rome, "and takes a deep 
interest in every thing which concerns the progress of religion on the Continent. 

23 



266 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

other cities in Italy, in which there are English chapels, the 
British government bears a part of the expense of maintain- 
ing the service. In many cases it gives as much as one 
hundred pounds sterling per annum. The rule, we believe, 
is this : the government will give the half of the sum which 
is necessary to support an English chaplain, in all places 
where there is a British ambassador or consul, provided the 
English residents will raise the other half, and provided fur- 
ther, that the whole sum required does not exceed two hun- 
dred pounds sterling annually. ^^ This course is in the 
highest degree honorable to the character of the English 
nation. That enlightened government feels that it is its duty 
to look well after the best interests of its subjects abroad, as 
well as at home. It rightly judges, that there are special 
reasons for extending its care and its aid in the promotion of 
the religious interests of Englishmen who are abroad, and 
who are removed from the restraining influences of home, 
and exposed to temptations of every kind. But inasmuch as 
England has no consul at Rome, and maintains no diplomatic 
relations whatever with the pope, nor can, for it is forbidden 
by a special law to do so, the government of that country can 
do nothing towards the support of an English chapel in that 
city. It is on this account that the service for the benefit of 
the English in Rome is wholly dependent upon the voluntary 
contributions of those who attend it. 

The Protestant service at Rome for the benefit of the Ger- 
mans, is held in a chapel in the residence of the Prussian 
ambassador, on the Capitoline Hill. This hill is on the 
southern side of the modern city, as it was on the northern 
side of the ancient. As the house which the Prussian am- 



68 We wish that we could say as much for our own government. Alas, it makes 
.no provision for the religious and moral wants of even its ambassadors and resi- 
dent ministers and their families, no matter in what countries they may be, but 
jeaves them to live like heathen, so far as any thing which it does is concerned. 



PROTESTANT CHAPELS AT ROME. 267 

bassador occupies belongs to bis government, tbe chapel is 
permanently established on that spot. It is large enough to 
contain two or three hundred people, and has been well filled 
on the occasions when we have attended it. There are 
always a good many German artists at Rome, as well as 
many visitors during the winter, for whose benefit it was ex- 
tremely necessary to maintain a good Protestant chapel. 

This service was commenced during the reign of the late 
excellent king of Prussia, who manifested a most laudable 
solicitude in behalf of the Protestants in Italy, especially 
those who were Prussians. The first chaplain, we believe, 
was the distinguished and eminently pious Tholuck, Professor 
in the University of Halle, in Germany. He resided at 
Rome about two years. The present preacher is the Rev. 
Henry Thiele, a native of Brunswick, a most interesting and 
faithful young man.^^ 

. In the immediate vicinity of the Prussian Embassy, and 
within a stone's cast of the old Tarpeian Rock, stands the 
Protestant Hospital, which Chevalier Bunsen, when he was 
the Prussian ambassador at Rome, caused to be erected, 
through the liberal aid of the late king of Prussia, and be- 
nevolent English, and other foreigners. This hospital cost 
about twenty-five thousand dollars, and has already proved to 
be a great blessing. Before its establishment, there was 
no hospital, into which sick Protestants, often young men, 
without means, could, with safety to their religious princi- 
ples, enter, and find that care which they needed. There 
were no less than thirteen hospitals in Rome, and all in the 
hands of Roman Catholics ; and if a Protestant entered one 
of them, he was sure to be beset by priests, monks, and 

59 This devoted young man possesses a most enlightened and catholic, as well as 
amiable spirit. As he remains all the summer at his post, he often has to look after 
sick English and Americans, as well as Germans. Indeed, it sometimes happens, 
that the chaplain of the Russian embassy, a member of the Greco-Russian church, 
engages him to look after his sick and dying countrymen during the same season. 



268 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

sisters, who gave him no peace. And it often happened, 
that poor young men and others, when they felt the approach 
of death, consented to receive the last sacraments of the 
Roman Catholic Church, for fear that they might be neg- 
lected, or that their remains might not receive a decent and 
Christian burial. The opening of a Protestant hospital, 
admirably conducted, for the benefit of Protestants from all 
countries, has removed all necessity for the occurrence of 
such scenes ; and we are most happy to say, that the result 
has been in the highest degree satisfactory to the excellent 
and distinguished individual who founded it. 

II. Protestant Chapels at Naples, 

There are also two Protestant chapels at Naples ; one for 
the English, and the other for the Swiss and Germans, or 
rather for all Protestants who speak German or French. 

The English chapel is in the house of the English consul, 
and is supported, in part, by the British government, and in 
part by the voluntary contributions of the English and Amer- 
icans who visit Naples, of whom the number, especially of the 
former, is every winter quite considerable. It is a very pleas- 
ant room, well fitted up, and will hold as many people as that 
at Rome. It is well attended during the winter, and tolerably 
well in summer ; for there are some English, who reside in that 
city the entire year. The present chaplain, the Rev. Mr. 
Lushington, is a most amiable and worthy man, and is much 
esteemed. 

The chapel for the benefit of the Germans, Swiss, and 
French, is in the house of the Prussian ambassador, if we 
remember rightly. It has two chaplains, one of whom, the 
Rev. Mr. Remy, preaches in German, and the other, the 
Rev. Mr. Jaquet, preaches in French. Two services at 
least, one in each language, are held every Sabbath, and 
some meetings in the course of the week. Both of these 



PROTESTANT CHAPELS AT NAPLES. 269 

ministers are young men, and both are evangelical in their 
faith, and zealous in the cause of their Master. One is 
supported by the king of Prussia, and is the chaplain of the 
Prussian embassy ; the other is supported by the Swiss and 
French Protestants, — bankers, merchants, and others, — 
who reside in Naples. 

The first Protestant service in the French language, under 
the auspices of the Prussian embassy, was commenced in the 
year 1826. And we believe, that the eloquent Adolphus 
Monod, now a distinguished professor in the Theological 
Faculty at Montauban, in France, was the first chaplain. 
He went to that post from Geneva, where he had just com- 
pleted his theological studies. He was at that epoch a i?a- 
tionalist. And it was at Naples, and through the reading of 
the Scriptures, that his eyes began to be opened to see the 
dreadful errors which he had hitherto held. But it was at 
Lyons, whither he was called, two years later, to be one of 
the pastors in the National Protestant church of that city, 
that the good work was carried on to his happy emancipation 
from those bonds of darkness, in which he had been held. 

We do not know when we have ever heard of a more beau- 
tiful circumstance, than that which was told us at Naples, 
when we were there in the year 1843, respecting the origin of 
the German and Swiss Protestant chapel, of which we have 
just given some account. It is this : — A pious old German 
colonel, and his sister, settled in Naples, shortly after the 
return of peace to Europe, upon the downfall of Napoleon. 
There they passed long years without having Protestant 
worship to attend, but constantly praying that God, in his 
good providence, would send them some one to preach that 
glorious gospel which they loved. Not being willing, how- 
ever, to pass their Sabbaths without going to the house of 
God, or at least what was called such, they -regularly went 
for years, every Sabbath, to a Koman Catholic church, where 
23* 



270 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

thej sat down, afar from the altar, (for they would not have 
any thing to do with the service which took place at it,) but 
still within what they considered the sacred precincts, and 
read their Bibles, and meditated, and prayed. After spend- 
ing an hour or two in this manner, they returned home. 
Year after year passed away, but at length they had the 
pleasure of seeing the answer of their prayers, in being 
permitted to hear the gospel preached in that great and 
wicked city, by a Protestant minister. What was certainly 
a remarkable and beautiful coincidence was the fact, that the 
name of these worthy persons, who were still living in 1843, 
was Himmehhurger^ and the street in which they lived was 
called Strada di Monte di Dio 1 ^^ 

The Rev. Messrs. Remy and Jaquet frequently preach to 
tlie Swiss residing at places in the neighborhood of Naples, 
such as Salerno, Castellamare, Scaffati, Angri, Piedimonte 
d'Alife, etc. Indeed, there is need of a third chaplain for 
this field. 

III. Protestant Chapels at Messina, 

There are two Protestant chapels at Messina, in Sicily, 
one for the English, and the other for the Swiss, French, and 
Germans, — or rather for all who understand French. The 
present chaplain of the English is the Rev. Mr. Miiller, who 
was educated at Basle, and employed as a missionary by the 
Basle Missionary Society for several years in the Russian 
possessions south of the Caucasus. He was afterwards chap- 
lain to the late unfortunate expedition sent from England to 
ascend and explore the Niger. The Rev. Mi^ Grisinger, of 
Frankfort on the Maine, preaches in the French chapel, a man 
of good spirit, and much esteemed. It is but a few years since 



00 Which is German, and means : Citizens of Heaven. 

01 Which is Italian, and signifies : Street of the Mount of God. 



CHAPELS AT PALERMO AND LEGHORN. 271 

this chapel was opened, and a considerable portion of the sum 
requisite to support it, during the first year or two, was sent 
by the Foreign Evangelical Society of the United States. 

IV. Protestant Chapel at Palermo, 

An English service has from time to time been maintained 
at Palermo, which is the poHtical capital of Sicily. But the 
number of English there bears no comparison with that of 
those who frequent Naples. There are, however, enough to 
render it desirable, and even important, to have an English 
minister of the gospel there. Palermo has a delicious 
climate, and is frequented by a greater or less number of 
invalids every winter. There are also some English mer- 
chants, who reside there the whole year ; and the port is 
visited by some English and American ships, which are en- 
gaged in the Italian trade. 

V. Protestant Chapels at Leghorn. 

Leghorn, being a free port, not only Protestants, but all 
other denominations of Christians, whom Rome deems and 
declares ' heretical,' have a certain, and even a large amount 
of religious liberty there. Accordingly, we find not only 
Protestant worship for the benefit of English, Germans, 
French, and Swiss, but also — what we find no where else in 
all Italy — for the Protestant Italians from the cantons of 
the Grisons and Ticino, and from the Lombardo-Venetian 
province of the Yalteline. The Armenians and Greeks 
have also chapels in that city, which has an extensive com- 
merce with the Levant, as well as aU other parts of the 
Mediterranean.^^ 



62 The Jews, of whom there are not less than ten thousand in Leghorn, have 
several schools, two of which are Infant schools, and a~synagogue, which is 
probably the finest in the world. The Turks also have a mosque in that city. 



272 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

The English chapel is spacious and handsome, and the 
burjing-ground attached to it is one of the finest cemeteries 
which one meets with in Italj.^ A chaplain is maintained 
by the English Factory, or Mercantile Agency in that city, 
aided by the British Government. As the English residents 
at Leghorn are numerous, and the place is visited every 
winter by many invalids and others from the British realm, 
the congregation which assembles in this chapel is quite 
large during several months, and highly respectable. 

When we were in that city in the year 1843, the Rev. 
Mr. Liider, a very worthy Protestant minister, was preach- 
ing there in German, French, and Italian, for the benefit of 
those of the Reformed Faith, from Germany, France, and 
Switzerland, and the cantons of Ticino and the Grisons. 

Leghorn, being a free port, and great commercial depot, it 
is obvious that it is a point of vast importance. There is far 
more toleration there than in any other city in Italy, and 
there is a greater sphere for the exertion of a Protestant in- 
fluence than in any other part of that country. 

VI. Protestant Ghapels at Florence, 

There is a large English chapel at Florence, which is well 
sustained by the English Government, and the English resi- 
dents and visitors, who are numerous. Florence is one of 
the points, at which great numbers of EngUsh pass the win- 
ter. It is a beautiful city, and finely situated on the river 
Arno, in one of the sweetest valleys in the world, and at the 
distance of a few miles from the Apennines. As it possesses 
so many attractions, it is frequented by strangers from all 
parts of Europe, as well as by a goodly number of Ameri- 
cans, every winter. It is, therefore, one of those points at 



6S In this cemetery lie the remains of Smollet, and several other distinguished 
Englishmen. 



PROTESTANT C^URCH AT VENICE. 273 

which it is very desirable to have able and faithful Protest- 
ant ministers to look well after those of their faith, and in- 
struct them in the truth, and guard them well from the 
dangers which surround them. 

A service, in French, for the Swiss and French Protest- 
ants in Florence, has been maintained for many years by the 
exertions of liberal Swiss and French, who reside there. 
This service has been held, and is still held, we believe, in 
the English chapel, and is attended by a goodly number of 
people. 

Vn. Protestant Church at Venice, 

We have stated, that the Protestant worship was main- 
tained at Venice during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and 
eighteenth centuries, by the legations from the Protestant 
Cantons of Switzerland, and the Protestant States of Ger- 
many. But when the republic of Venice came to an end, in 
the year 1797, those legations were withdrawn, and of course 
the services ceased. 

But, whilst the French had possession of that city, from 
1801 to 1814, liberty was granted to the Hungarian Prot- 
estants residing there to open a church for their own ben- 
efit. This they did, and supported public worship by their 
contributions. As they were several hundred in number, 
and, as many of them were rich merchants and bankers, 
they had no diflSculty in buying or erecting a suitable build- 
ing, and sustaining all the necessary expenses.^ 

Upon the downfall of Napoleon, and consequently of the 
French dominion in Italy, Venice fell into the possession of 
Austria. As soon as the congress of Vienna had decided 
that this ancient republic should form a part of the Austrian 



64 The Protestant Church in Venice stands at a short distance from the Grand 
Canal, and at the distance of one or two squares west of the Rialto. 



274 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

empire, the pope's nuncio, who was at Vienna, during the meet- 
ing of the congress, went to the emperor of Austria and 
demanded, in the name of his master, that that Protestant 
chapel should he closed. When the king of Prussia, the 
late excellent Frederick William III., who was a member of 
that congress, heard of this, he went to the emperor of Aus- 
tria, and told him that he thought that the Protestants of 
Venice ought to be allowed to have their own worship, and 
pledged his word that it should cost the Austrian government 
nothing to maintain it. At his instance, the Austrian gov- 
ernment consented, and this Protestant church has ever since 
been continued. When we were first in Italy, in the year 
1837, we attended that church, and were delighted to see 
two or three hundred persons present, almost all of them 
Hungarians, and among them at least fifty officers and sol- 
diers of the Austrian force stationed in that city. And the 
young and excellent Mr. Witchen, himself the son of a 
Protestant pastor of Hungary, whom we heard preach, in 
German, told us, that every year the good old king of 
Prussia wrote to him to know whether he was adequately 
supported, and to say to him, that if he needed any thing, he 
must inform him of it, and his wants should be supplied. 
* But,' said Mr. W., ' hitherto I have been able to assure his 
majesty, that I have had need of nothing, my congregation 
being able and willing to support me.' 

VIII. Protestant Chapels at Genoa. 

There are Protestant services in both the English and 
French languages at Genoa, for the benefit of the English, 
Swiss, and French residents in that city ; who, although not 
numerous, are yet enough so to justify the expense of sus- 
taining the gospel there in their behalf. We cannot say that 
these services, as carried on in the year 1843, were as effi- 
cient as they might be. We are inclined to think, that they 
were the least so of all the Protestant services in Italy. 



PROTESTANT SERVICES AT MILAN. 275 



IX. Protestant Chapel in Bergamo. 

There is a considerable number of Protestants at Berga- 
mo, which is a pleasant city in the Lombardo- Venetian king- 
dom. Thej are chiefly Germans, and some of them are 
wealthy bankers, who have lent a good deal of money, from 
time to time, to the Austrian government, and in return 
have been permitted to enjoy their own religious worship, 
which they sustain by their contributions. A few years ago, 
the Rev. Mr. Stahl, a man of good repute, was the Protestant 
chaplain at that place. Whether he be there now or not, we 
are not informed. 

X. Protestant Services at Milan, 

When we visited Italy for the first time, in the year 1837, 
there was no Protestant service at Milan, although it was 
affirmed that no less than four thousand Protestants, chiefly 
Swiss, resided there. It was otherwise when we last visited 
that country, in the year 1843. There were then two Prot- 
estant ministers in that city, one a Hungarian, and the other 
a Swiss. The former preached in German, and the latter 
in French. 

The history of the establishment of Protestant w^orship in 
Milan is very interesting, and we state it with the more 
pleasure, inasmuch as it reflects the highest credit on the 
Austrian government. 

About the year 1840 or '41, a Hungarian Protestant 
soldier in the Austrian army stationed in the north part of 
Italy, committed some crime, for which he was sentenced by 
a court-martial to die. As there was no Protestant minister 
in Milan, the commanding officer, who happened to be a 
Hungarian and a Protestant, wrote to the Austrian govern- 
ment to say, that a Protestant soldier there- had been con- 
demned to die, but that there was no minister of his religion 



276 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

there to help him him prepare for his dreadful end. The 
Austrian government learning this fact, caused a Protestant 
minister to come from Hungary, and sent him several hun- 
dreds of miles to Milan, to help this poor soldier prepare for 
death. 

Encouraged by this conduct of the Austrian government, 
the same officer wrote again, to say that it was no wonder 
that the Protestant soldiers in the Austrian army in Italy 
committed crimes, for they had no one to give them religious 
instruction. Whereupon the Austrian government sent a 
Hungarian Protestant minister to act as chaplain to the 
Protestant soldiers and officers of the Austrian army in that 
country. 

The Protestants at Milan, seeing this, addressed a request 
to the Austrian government to be allowed to have a Protest- 
ant chapel in that city for their spiritual benefit. The gov- 
ernment consented; and now there are two Protestant 
preachers there, one preaching to the soldiers, the other to 
the Protestants residing in that city. 

XI. Protestant Chapel at Turin, 

There is no English chapel at Turin, at present ; and in 
fact, with the exception of the persons attached to the British 
legation, there are few if any English, residing in that city. 
Nor is it a place at which English travellers make much 
stay. But there is a Protestant service under the Prussian 
auspices, and in reality the chapel itself forms a part of the 
hotel, or spacious residence of the ambassador of that nation. 
No government has shown a more laudable interest in the 
religious and moral welfare of its legations, or a greater de- 
sire to advance the interests of Protestantism in general, than 
that of Prussia. 

The late Prussian ambassador at Turin, Count Waldbourg- 
Truchsess, was an excellent man, and lived a life of exem- 



PROTESTANT CHAPEL AT TURIN. 277 

plary goodness. It was no trifling excuse which could 
detain him from the services of the Protestant chapel, of 
which he was so worthy a member. 

It was our privilege to attend public worship in this 
chapel, repeatedly, during both our visits to Turin, in the 
years 1837 and 1843. The congregation consists of three or 
four hundred people, mostly Protestants from the valleys of 
Piedmont, who bear the name of Waldenses. It is said, that 
as many as ^ve hundred of these people reside in Turin, as 
servants in families, mechanics, shopkeepers, etc. The 
preacher is the Rev. Mr. Bert, a son of the late moderator of 
the Waldensian Synod, of which body we shall have occasion 
to speak in another part of this work. We are happy to say, 
that Mr. Bert is not only a talented and eloquent young man, 
but also a faithful preacher of the gospel. The post which 
he occupies is one of vast importance. For seven years and 
more, he has been enabled, through God's grace and blessing, 
to fill it not only with fidelity, but also with singular prudence 
and wisdom. 

We may add, that individuals belonging to almost all the 
Protestant embassies at the Sardinian court, attend this 
chapel, it being in fact the only one in Turin, where they can 
hear the Faith which they profess. It is quite common, 
therefore, to see Dutch, English, Swedes, Americans, as well 
as Germans, present at its services. 

The events of the last summer have demonstrated Avhat 
need there is of vigilance, on the part of Protestants in 
Italy, in order to guard against the wiles of their adversaries* 
We allude to the outrageous and successful attempt to carry 
off and place in a convent, the daughter of the late Dutch 
ambassador at the court of Turin. Up to the latest dates of 
intelligence from that city, all efforts to recover her had been 
unsuccessful. If there were another William the Third on 
24 



278 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

the throne of Holland, we have no hesitation in saying, that 
this young lady would soon be found. But, alas, these are 
not the days of a Cromwell, nor of a Prince of Orange such 
as William III. was. The present king of Holland, we are 
sorry to say, appears to care little for the interests of Prot- 
estantism ; and yet, he is descended from ancestors who did 
glorious things for the Protestant cause, and rules over a 
country, to whose independence the Protestant K-eligion gave 
existence. 

XII. Protestant Chapel at Nice, 

At this moment, we believe, there is no French Prot- 
estant chapel at Nice, although there was one, almost with- 
out interruption, for a number of years. But there is an 
English service, for the benefit of the English, who frequent 
that little city in great numbers every winter, for health, or 
are attracted thither by its delightful climate. 

We know not who is the English chaplain at Nice, at 
present. The Rev. John Hartley filled that post for several 
years, and was greatly blest in his labors. But that eminent 
servant of Christ was called from his work in the summer of 
1843. He died, lamented by all who knew him. Besides 
being an excellent preacher, he was the author of a number 
of books and tracts, in English and French, which will long, 
we doubt not, diffuse the blessed truth which he loved to 
proclaim. Mr. Hartley, we may add, was for several years 
a missionary in Greece and Asia Minor, but was compelled 
to leave that field by the feeble health of his wife.^ 



65 Some ten or twelve years ago, Mr. H. published a very interesting work on 
the present state of the Seven Churches in Asia Minor, addressed by our Lord in 
the second and third chapters of the Apocalypse. 



PKOTESTANT CHAPLAINS. 279 



Xm. Occasional Protestant Services, 

There are several other places in Italy where Prot- 
estant worship is occasionally maintained by English resi- 
dents or visitors. Among these we may mention Lucca 
and Sienna, which are not far apart ; and also Sorrento, and 
Castellamare. At some seasons there is a considerable num- 
ber of English in these places, and a service is maintained at 
their expense, some minister from England, who is on a visit 
to Italy, consenting to act as their chaplain. Our country- 
man, the Rev. Dr. Jarvis, officiated in this capacity one 
winter, if not more, at Sienna, to the acceptance of the 
English and Americans who were passing the season there. 

XIV. Protestant Chaplains in the Army of Naples. 

The king of the Two Sicilies has some five or six thousand 
Swiss soldiers in his army, of wliom nearly two thousand are 
Protestants. It is a fact, highly honorable to that monarch, 
whatever may be said against him in other respects, that he 
has had the justice to grant the request of those Protestant 
soldiers and their officers, that they might have religious 
teachers of their own Faith. For several years, he has sup- 
ported two Swiss chaplains of the Protestant Church, who 
have preached the gospel to the Protestant soldiers of the 
Swiss regiments. In doing so he has, however, acted wisely 
in reference to his own. interests. It is of great importance 
that these foreign troops should be sober, moral men. To 
secure this, he could adopt no measure so suitable as the 
employment of competent religious teachers. It is well 
known that the Swiss soldiers, whilst in Italy, are greatly 
exposed to the vice of drunkenness, owing to the use of the 
strong fiery wines of that country. This is especially true of 
those who go into the southern parts of it. 

Very different has been the conduct of his Holiness. He, 



280 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMilTION. 

too, has mercenary troops in his army. His Swiss soldiers 
are about six thousand, or six thousand five hundred in num- 
ber. And among them are something like two thousand 
Protestants. And they, too, have requested that they might 
have religious teachers of their Faith. But the Holy Father 
of the Church has never listened to their petition. The con- 
sequence is, that these two thousand nominally Protestant 
troops are greatly in danger of returning to their native land, 
when their term of service is expired, corrupt in morals, and 
infidel in their sentiments on the subject of religion. With 
very few exceptions, they are not truly religious men. And 
they see enough, as their position and duties lead them to 
know the character of the people and the conduct of the 
priests and monks very thoroughly, to make them, one would 
suppose, despise every thing in the shape of religion. That 
this is often the case, is certain. That it is not so univer- 
sally, is owing to the lingering respect and love which they 
may entertain for the Faith in which they were born and 
were brought up, 

XV. Summary. 

From the preceding notices, the reader will gather, that 
there are no less than eight English and ten Swiss and Ger- 
man chapels in Italy for the benefit of the foreign Protestants 
who visit that country, or reside for a longer or shorter time 
in it. And if we include all the places in which there is 
occasionally Protestant preaching, we should increase the 
number to twenty-five or twenty-six. 

The number of Protestant chaplains in Italy, including one 
who is laboring among the Austrian troops, and tivo among 
the Neapolitan, is not less than twenty-one or twenty-two. 
This is the number of those who are found there every year ; 
and some years there are several more. It is a remarkable 
fact that several of the Swiss and German ministers who are 



SUMMARY. 281 

in Italy, had obscure, and some of them very erroneous, 
views of the gospel when they went thither ; but they have 
been brought to the knowledge of the Truth, and made to feel 
its power, through God's blessing upon the reading of the Sa- 
cred Scriptures. Were it proper, we could name some very 
interesting cases of conversion, which have occurred among 
these ministers, who at first and for many years, preached 
what was ' another gospel.' 

As to the English chaplains in Italy, whilst it is to be 
lamented that there are some among them who do not seem 
to comprehend the gospel, nor the true work of the ministry, 
there are some of a very difierent character. And the read- 
ing of the liturgy, where the minister does not comprehend 
his true mission and office, it is believed, exerts a great influ- 
ence to keep aKve in the hearts of those entering with 
interest into the service, the knowledge of God and divine 
things. 

In the account which we have given of the Protestant 
chapels in Italy, we have not included the Waldenses, who 
live in their own valleys in Piedmont. It is our intention 
now to speak of them, and their state and prospects. This 
we shall do in the third and last part of our work. 

We would not pass from the consideration of this subject, 
without saying, that, in whatever light we regard it, we can- 
not fail to see its vast importance. And it is certainly a fact 
which calls for devout gratitude to God, that he has inclined 
the hearts of the rulers of Italy to permit the opening of the 
Protestant chapels, which we have enumerated in this chap- 
ter. This liberal and wise measure is highly honorable to 
them, and beneficial to their subjects. 

On the other hand, it is impossible to estimate the good 
results which will flow from this measure to the foreign Prot- 
estants in Italy. It will be a great means of guarding them 
from the dangers which surround them. It is well known 
. 24* 



282 ITALY SINCE THE REFORMATION. 

that in Eome there are apostate Protestants employed to 
ingratiate themselves, by offers of kindness, with their fellow- 
countrymen who visit that city, and lead them to embrace 
the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. One of the 
most active of these Jesuit panders, is a young man from 
New York. 

StiU more ; it is of vast importance that the Protestants 
who visit Italy should be such that their conversation and 
example will do good to the Italians. They have it in their 
power to advance the interests of Truth, in a thousand ways, 
whilst in that country. 

We have now come to the conclusion of the Second Part 
of our work, which we have entitled : Italy since the Reforma- 
tion. We have noticed the various political changes which 
that country has undergone within the last three centuries, 
its gradual advancement in civilization, and the measures 
which were adopted by Rome to extirpate the Reformation, 
and to prevent its return. We have reviewed the favorable 
indications which lead to the belief that a brighter day, for 
the cause of Truth in that country, is probably not very far 
distant. And we have given an account of the Protestant 
chapels which have sprung up there within the last twenty- 
five or thirty years. 

We now proceed to speak of the Waldenses, who live in 
the valleys in Piedmont, and are therefore in the limits of 
Italy; and who may one day be, as they were styled in 
former times, the Lumen totius Italice. ^^ 

66 The Light of all Italy. 



■OHbriMBiata 



PART III. 



PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY. 



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PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY: PAST AND PRESENT. 



PART III 



THE HISTORY, PRESENT STATE, AND PROSPECTS OF THE 

WALDENSES. 



CHAPTER L 

ORIGIN AND ANTIQUITY OF THE WALDENSES. 

"We have repeatedly spoken of the Waldcnses in the 
former portions of this work ; but it is necessary to take a 
more complete notice of them. As they live on the verge 
of Italy, occupy a position greatly insulated from the rest of 
that country, and have institutions, as well as a history, 
entirely pecuKar to themselves, it is proper that they should 
be spoken of in a distinct portion of this volume. Hedged 
up though they be, in their mountain-home, on the confines 
of France and Savoy, they are nevertheless Italians. And 
small as their country is, and few as they are in number, it 
may be that they are destined to exert a great moral and 
religious influence upon the three countries which surround 
them, as did their ancestors, who, through ages of dark- 
ness, shone as ' lights in the world,' and ^ held forth the 
Word of life/ 



286 THE WALDENSES. 

I. Their name, whence derived. 

There has been no little dispute respecting the name and 
the origin of these people. As to the former, it is now con- 
ceded, that the word Waldenses is not the proper one by 
which to designate them ; but such is its universal applica- 
tion, at least by those who speak the English language, that 
we prefer to use it, rather than employ either Vallenses, as 
Mr. Faber does, in his excellent work relating to them, ^ or 
Vaudoisj as Dr. Henderson calls them, in his interesting 
volume. ^ Both of these names, one of Latin, and the other 
of Provencal origin, give, it is true, the right idea of them, 
namely, as being Men of the Valleys. ^ But we shall adhere 
to that by which they have so long been called in England 
and in this country, and which has become inveterate, rather 
than attempt to substitute another, though undoubtedly more 

1 The Ancient Vallenses and AIMgenses. By the Rev. G. S. Faber. London, 1838. 

2 The Vaudois: comprising Observations made during a Tour of the Valleys of Pied- 
mont in the Summer of 1844 ; together with Remarks^ introductory and interspersed, 
respecting the Origin, History, and present Condition of that interesting People, By E. 
Henderson, D. D. 

3 Ebrardus de Bethune, in writing against these people, says : * Some of them 
call themselves Vallenses, because they dwell in the Valley of Tears,' — Quidam au- 
tern qui Vallenses se appellant, eo qudd in Valle lachrymarum maneant— thus giving a 
metaphorical instead of a literal signification to the term. In like manner, Ber- 
nardus of Fontecaude, says of them : ' They are called Valdenses, namely, from a 
deep valley, because of the deep and dark errors in which they are involved,' — 
dicti sunt Valdenses, nimirum a valle densa, eo qudd profundis et densis errorum 
tenebris involvantur. 

The terms Vaudois, in French, Vallenses, in Latin, Valdesi or Vallesi, in Italian, 
all signify * Men of the Valleys.' The name ' Waldenses,' in English, now has no 
other meaning than as designating the people who live in certain valleys in Pied- 
mont, whatever may have been its origin. There is an inconvenience, to say the 
least of it, in employing the term Vaudois to indicate these people, for that word 
also designates the inhabitants of the Canton de Vaud, in Switzerland, with whom 
the Waldenses must not be confounded. And yet they are often confounded with 
them. Even Sharon Turner has committed this mistake, and speaks of the Walden- 
ses, Italians as they are, as if they were inhabitants of Switzerland, of the ' Pays 
de Vaud.' Hist, of England during the Middle Ages, vol. v, book vii. ch. 3, p. 134. 



THEIR ORIGIN. 287 

proper. It would seem that the early English writers who 
treated of them, called them Waldenses, under the impression 
that thej were descended from the followers of Peter Waldo, 
of Lyons, a Reformer of the twelfth century, of whom we 
shall speak presently, and not in reference to the nature of 
the country which they inhabited. However this may be, 
the word now designates these people with sufficient definite- 
ness, and has no reference to the sect of the Lyonese Re- 
former, in the minds of those who use it. 

H. Origin of the Waldenses. 

But the question of their origin is far more important than 
that of their name. It is well known that, centuries before 
the Reformation by Luther, Zuingle, and Calvin, there was a 
considerable body of Christians inhabiting the valleys which 
lie in the Alps, about midway between the Mediterranean 
Sea and the Lake Leman, who did not symbolize with Rome. 
The portion of the great Alpine range which they inhabit, 
is called the Cottian Alps, from the name of one Cottius, a 
native prince, who contended with the Romans, and success- 
fully, for the possession of this portion of his dominions. It 
would seem that there were, in fact, very many of them, and 
that they held intimate communion, on the one hand, with 
evangelical Christians in the valley of the Po, and who were 
for centuries numerous in the diocesses of Milan and Turin ; 
and on the other, with those in Dauphiny, Provence, and 
Languedoc, in the southeastern and southern parts of 
France. 

Through the region which they inhabited, lay the great 
road by which the Romans passed from Cisalpine to Trans- 
alpine Gaul. And it is natural to suppose, that the early 
Christian missionaries who carried the Truth into the latter, 
passed through this country, and preached the blessed gospel 
to its inhabitants. It is even possible that the voice of Paul 



288 THE WALDENSES. 

was heard in those deep valleys ; for if he ever made that 
journey into Spain, which he tells the brethren at Rome, in 
his epistle to the church of that city, that he purposed to 
make, he must have passed, it is believed, by that same way. 
However that may have been, it is certain tht;.t there was a 
great body of Christians in the north of Italy, even down till 
the eleventh century, who nobly maintained the Truth, and 
did not bow their necks to Rome. Nor is it unreasonable to 
suppose, that if the Truth spread on the plains below, it also, 
and at the same time, spread into the adjacent valleys. And 
if it maintained itself so long amidst the richer and more 
luxurious population of the plain, notwithstanding all the 
invasions which it suffered fromj^he northern hordes, who 
overran Italy, it is quite credible that it should remain flour- 
ishing amid the poverty of the inhabitants of the mountain- 
valleys, remote from the scenes of desolation and blood which 
war creates. 

Nor are we left to conjecture alone, whose plausibility, 
however great, could not, it is admitted, satisfy all our de- 
sires on this interesting subject. History comes in to confirm 
these suppositions, by a multitude of facts, directly or indi- 
rectly stated, as well as by many incidental allusions which 
have a most important bearing on this question. "We will 
take notice of as many as the limited space which we can 
give to this topic will allow. 

III. Opinions of the Waldenses themselves respecting their 

Origin. 

Let it be observed, then, that the Waldenses maintain, 
and have done so from the date of their earliest existing 
histories, that their ancestors inhabited the country which 
they now occupy, and held the Faith which they hold, since 
the days of the apostles. They are of opinion, that the gospel 
was preached to their forefathers in those valleys by Chris- 



THEIR ORIGIN. 289 

tian missionaries from Rome, or other cities in Italy where it 
had gained extensive ground, or that it was introduced by 
those who fled from the plain country; perhaps some of 
them from Rome itself, or the neighborhood thereof, during 
the persecutions under the Roman emperors. It is probable, 
that the Truth was introduced by both these means. In a 
petition, presented by the Waldenses to Philibert Emanuel^ 
duke of Savoy and prince of Piedmont, in the year 1559, 
they use the following language : — ' We likewise beseech 
your royal highness to consider, that this religion which we 
profess is not only ours, nor hath it been invented by men of 
late years, as is falsely reported, but it was the religion of 
our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, and other 
yet more ancient predecessors of ours, and of the blessed 
martyrs, confessors, prophets, and apostles ; and if any can 
prove the contrary, we are ready to subscribe, and yield 
thereunto.'* And Leger, their great historian, states, that 
all the petitions and addresses of these people to their 
sovereigns, from the earliest times, contained a sentence 
to the same effect, namely, that they had been in the en- 
joyment of the liberty of conscience, ' da ogni tempo^ da 
tempo immemoriale^ from all time, from time immemorial. ^ 
^ And is it not extraordinary,' he asks, ' that it has never 
once happened, that any of the dukes of Savoy, or their 
ministers, should have offered the least contradiction to the ( 

i 

pretensions of their Vaudois subjects ? Again and again it / 
has been asserted by them, " we are descendants of those, \ 
who from father to son have preserved entire the apostolical ' 
Faith in the valleys which we now occupy." Their preten- 



i History of the Evangelical Churches of the Valleys of Piedmont^ etc., p. 228. By 
Samuel Morland, Esq. London, 1658. 

5 Histoire des Eglises Vaudoises^ liv. i. p. 158. Sir Samuel Morland, in his 
History of the Evangelical Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont^ gives several of these 
petitions and addresses. 

25 



2^0 THE WALDENSES. 

sions have been passed over in silence. They have been 
suffered to repeat their demands from reign to reign, and to 
carry them to the feet of their sovereigns : — " Permit us to 
enjoy that free exercise of our religion which we have en- 
joyed from time out of mind, and before the dukes of Savoy 
became princes of Piedmont." I have still the copy of a re- 
monstrance, in which I myself inserted these very words, — 
'' Dinanzi die li Duchi di Savoy a fossero Principi di 
Piemontey' etc., etc., and which the President Truchi, the 
ablest man in the state, has endeavored to answer on every 
other point but this. He ha&, however, never dared to touch 
upon our antiquity.' ' And formerly, in the year 1559/ 
continues the same author, ' when Emanuel Philibert was 
told, that his Waldensian petitioners professed the Faith 
which had been handed down to them by their forefathers 
from the times of the martyrs and apostles, would that great 
prince and his court have endured to be told this by these 
poor people, if there had been one particle of truth to be 
discovered to the contrary, by the ministers of his royal 
highness, or by his ecclesiastics, or if any of them could have 
maintained the opposite, and shown, that they did not descend 
from father to son from the times of the martyrs, and con- 
fessors, and holy apostles ? ' ^ 

We learn, from these extracts, what were the opinions of 
the best informed among the Waldenses in the seventeenth 
century, in relation to their origin. We will only add, at 
present, that in one of the manuscripts, dated 1587, and de- 
posited in the library of the University of Cambridge, in 
England, the question is put : ' At what time have the re- 
ligion and state (statd) been preached in the valleys ? ' The 
answer is, — ' About five hundred years, as can be collected 



6 Histoire des Eglises Vaudoises, liv. i. pp. 164, 165, quoted by Rev. Dr. Gilly, in his 
Waldensian Researches, pp. 46-49. 



TESTIMONY OF THEIR ENEMIES. 291 

from many histories ; but, according to the belief of the in- 
habitants of the valleys^ it has been from time immemorial, 
and from father to son, since the tim£ of the apostles,^ ^ The 
replies of various pastors, to whom we ourselves have ad- 
dressed similar questions, have invariably been to the same 
effect.^ ^ 

IV. Testimony of their Enemies on this Subject. 

Let us now see what their enemies have said on this 
point. And here there is an abundance of testimony, from 
which, however, we can extract only a few instances. We 
begin with Reinerius, who uses the following language re- 
specting these people, whom he denominates Leonists, 
^ Concerning the sects of ancient heretics, let it be observed, 
that they have been more than seventy in number ; all of 
which, save those of the Manicheans, the Arians, the Runca- 
rians, and the Leonists, which have infected Germany, have, 
through God's favor, been extirpated. Among all these 
sects, which either still exist, or which have formerly existed, 
there is not one more pernicious to the Church [of Rome,] 
than that of the Leonists ; and this for three reasons. First, 
because it has heen of longer continuance ; for some say, that 
it has lasted from the time of Sylvester ; ^ others, from the 
time of the apostles. Second, because it is more general ; 



7 Morland's History of the ^angelical Churches^ etc. p. 29. 

8 To the above-cited testimonies of the Waldenses themselves in regard to their 
origin, it may not be amiss to add what they modestly say on this point, when ad- 
dressing the Reformers, in the sixteenth century : — ' Our ancestors have often 
recounted to us, that we have existed from the time of the apostles. In all matters, 
nevertheless, we agree with you ; and, thinking as you think, from the very days of 
the apostles themselves we have ever been concordant respecting the Faith. In 
this particular only, we may be said to difter from you ; that, through our fauh, and 
the slowness of our genius, we do not understand the sacred writers with such 
strict correctness as yourselves.' See Faber's Inquiry into the History and Theology 
of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses^ book iii. pp. 288, 289. 

9 Sylvester was Bishop of Rome, A. D. 317. 



I 



292 THE WALDENSES. 

for there is scarcely a country , in which it does not exist. 
Third, because, that whilst all other sects, through their mon- 
strous blasphemies against God, strike horror into the hearers, 
this of the Leonists has a great appearance of piety, inasrauch 
as they live justly before men, and believe, not only, all the arti- 
cles of the creed, but every sound doctrine respecting i;he Deity ; 
only they speak evil of the Roman Church and clergy, to 
which the multitude of the laity are quite ready to give 
credence.^^ 

That Reinerius speaks of the Waldenses under the name 
of Leonists, is quite clear, from what he says in other places. 
In addition to this, Pilichdorf, a writer of the same century, 
expressly says, that the persons who claim to have existed 
from the time of Pope Sylvester, were the Waldenses}^ And 
Claude Scyssel, Archbishop of Turin, in the latter end of the 
fifteenth century, and in the beginning of the sixteenth, and 
who, from his vicinity to them, as well as from the fact that 
they were geographically comprehended in his diocess, must 
have had good opportunities of knowing their origin and 
history, tells us, that the Waldenses of Piedmont took their 
origin from a person named Leo, who, in the time of the Em- 
peror Constantine, execrating the avarice of Pope Sylvester, 
and the immoderate endowment of the Roman Church, seceded 



10 Reinerius de Heret. in BiMiotheca Patrum^ vol. xiii. c. iv. p. 299. This Reine- 
rius Sacchon, as he was called, was a native of Placentia, and wrote against the 
Waldenses about the year 1250. He had once been a pastor among that people, 
but apostatized, and became afterwards an inquisilor, as we learn from the testi- 
mony of Anthony Senensis, {Bibliotheca Patrum, vol. iv. part ii. col. 740.) No man, 
then, had a better opportunity than this Reinerius for knowing the doctrines, 
manner of life, and probable origin of the Waldenses. Nor can he be charged with 
giving too favorable an account of them. There are also manifest references to the 
Waldenses in the writings of Bernard, of Clairvaux, who died A. D. 1153. See his 
sixty-fifih and sixty-sixth Sermons on the Canticles. And in those of Ecbert, who 
flourished A. D. 1160. See Biblioth. Patrum^ torn. xii. p. 698. 

11 Pilichdorf. Contra Waldenses^ in Biblioth. Patrum, vol. xiii. p. 312. 



WHT THEY WERE CALLED LEONISTS. 293 

from that Communion^ and drew after him all those who enter- 
tained right sentiments concerning the Christian religion.^ 

These statements prove, in conte stably, that the Leonists 
and the Waldenses were the same people. 

y. Why the Waldenses were called Leonists, 

It is obvious, that the inhabitants of the valleys in Pied- 
mont were not denominated Leonists from Peter Waldo, of 
Lyons, and his followers, who were also, by this same Reine- 
rius, called Leonists ; for the Lyonese Reformer lived in the 
eleventh century. Nor is it less certain, that neither the 
history nor the traditions of the Waldenses make mention of 
any Leo as \he\Y founder, as Claude Scyssel seems to assert, 
for they have in all times maintained that their Communion 
descends in a direct, unbroken line, from the apOvStles. But, 
that there was some eminent teacher among them, or with 
whom they had intimate relations, at an early period, who 
bore that name, and from whom they were often called Le- 
onists, is not at all improbable. On the contrary, indeed, we 
can hardly account for the application of that name to them, 
but upon such an hypothesis. 

But, who was that individual? This is an interesting 
inquiry. On this point we will give the opinion of Mr. 
Faber, who says : — ' Though I think it clear that the Yal- 
denses ^^ could not have been called Leonists, from the Lyons 
of the opulent merchant Peter, that is to say, from Lyons 
w^hich is seated on the Rhone, I am not without a strong sus- 
picion, that, ultimately, and through an entirely different 
channel, the title may have been borrowed from another 



12 Claude Scyssel, Taurin. Adv. errcrr. et Sect. Valdens. fold. 5, 6, quoted by Mr. 
Faber, in his Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Yallenses and AIM- 
genses, pp. 275, 276. 

13 Mr- Faber, throughout his work, employs the terms Valdenses, Vallenses, and 
Vaudois, for Waldenses. 

25* 



/ 



294 THE WALDENSES. 

Lyons ; from Lyons, to wit, in Aquitain, upon the borders of 
the Pyrenees ; from Lugdunum Convenarum^ I mean, which 
now bears the name of St, Bertrand^ and which is situated in 
what (from Gonvence) is styled the Pays de Cominges, 

* My conjecture is, that the traditional Leo of the Yalden- 
ses, however his history may have been circumstantially 
distorted and chronologically misplaced, is no other than the 
famous Yigilantius ; of whom, in immediate connection with 
the primitive Christians of the Valleys at the beginning of 
the fifth century, we shall presently hear again. 

' This holy man, as we fortunately learn from the very 
scurrility of Jerome,^^ was actually born in the precise toAvn 
of Lyons, or Convenje, in Aquitain. Whence, from the place 
of his nativity, he would obviously be called, among his hosts 
of the valleys, Vigilaiitius Leo^ or Vigilantius the Leonist» 
His proper local appellation he communicated, if I mistake 
not, to his congenial friends, the Yallenses of Piedmont ; and 
his memory, as we see, was affectionately cherished by them, 
down even to the time of Claude Scyssel. 

' Thus ultimately, I apprehend, the name of Leonist was 
derived from Lyons ; not, indeed, from the more celebrated 
Lyons on the Rhone ; but from the Lyons of Aquitain, or 
the Lugdunum Convenarum of the Pyrenees.' ^^ 

14 That Jerome is reckoned among the Fathers of the Churchy is most certain ; but 
that he deserves the name of holy ^ may well be doubted. To speak plainly, he was 
one oi ihe hardest Christians that have ever, lived. Indeed, there is so little of the 
spirit of the blessed Redeemer in his writings, that we may well doubt whether he 
knew any thing- of that inward experience of the transforming influence of the 
gospel, without which no man shall see the Lord. His language is ' scurrilous ' to a 
degree which might well be pronounced incredible. As to Vigilantius, who appears 
to have been a far belter man than he, Jerome seems at a loss sometimes for epi- 
thets sufhciently opprobrious to apply to him. And yet his vocabulary of language 
worthy of Billingsgate seems to be inexhaustible. But we will neither trouble the 
reader, nor pollute our pages with any specimens. Those who wish, may consult 
his works, which display, we may remark, no want of talent. 

15 An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vallenses and AlbigenseSy 
pp. 278-280. 



mmmm 



TESTIMONY TO THEIR ANTIQUITY. 295 

This position Mr. Faber undertakes to establish, and, in • 
doing so, to prove the^ antiquity of the Waldenses, by an 
examination of Jerome's Controversy with Yigiiantius, in 
relation to the points at issue between them. And it must 
be conceded, that he has made a most plausible case of it.^^ 
In these views. Dr. Gilly coincides, in his recent work re- 
specting Yigiiantius.^'' And, although we cannot affirm that l 
either of them has demonstrated that the Leo, of whom 
Claude Scyssel speaks, was actually Yigiiantius, yet it must 
be admitted, that they have rendered it extremely probable. 

YI. Testimony of JRorenco, Cassini, and others, to the 
Antiquity of the Waldenses, 

We have given the testimony of the Inquisitor Reinerius 
on the subject of the antiquity of the Waldenses ; we now add 
that of a few more authors from among the ranks of their 
enemies. And first, that of Marco Aurelio Rorenco, grand 
prior of St. Roch, in Turin, and one of the lords of the 
valley of Luserne. This man was commissioned to inquire 
into the history of the ' Men of the Yalleys,' and must have 
had opportunities of consulting any documents relating to 
them that might be found both among the Waldenses them- 
selves, and in the archives of the Duke of Savoy. The re- 
sults of his investigations are contained in a volume of his, 
published at Turin, in the year 1632.^^ In this work he 
states that the heresy of the eighth century (by which he 
means the doctrines of Claude of Turin) was continued in 
these valleys in the ninth and tenth centuries ; that the 
Waldenses were no new sect, but only the revival of an old 

16 An Inquiry, etc., book iii. ch. ii. pp. 290-299. 

17 Yigiiantius and his Times, (published in London, 1844,) chap. xv. pp. 317-339. 

18 The title of this work is Narratione dell- Introduttione deUe Heresie nelle ValU. 



296 THE WALDENSES. 

one ; and that it was impossible to ascertain, with certainty, 
when it had first gained an entrance into these valleys. To 
the same effect was the testimony received from themselves. 
^ They declared,' he says, ' that it had not been within fifty 
years merely, that they had had knowledge of the pure Truth, 
but that it was impossible for any one to be ignorant, that, for 
more than five or six centuries, they had taught the same.' 
And he adds, in proof of their early existence as a religious 
body : — ' No edict can be found of any prince, who gave 
permission for the introduction of this religion into these 
parts. The princes only grant permission to their subjects to 
continue in the same religion which they had received from 
their ancestors.' ^^ 

I Cassini, an Italian priest, testified that he found it handed 
• down, that the ' Waldenses were as ancient as the Christian 
Church.' ^^ Henri de Corvie describes them as ' descended 
from an ancient race of simple men, who inhabit the Alps 
and their vicinity, and have always been fond of ancient 
usages.' ^^ And the monk Belvidere, in his reports as In- 
quisitor, laments that these ' heretics have been found in all 
periods of history, in the valley of Angrogna,' ^ by which 
term he evidently means all the region occupied by the 
Waldenses, because that valley is central to their country. 

To very ancient histories of the Waldenses no appeal can 
be made, for they were all destroyed by their enemies during 
the many persecutions, which they underwent from time to 
time. Their historian, Leger, the president of their synod, 
and the most distinguished of their pastors at that epoch, 
had collected a goodly number of ancient manuscripts and 

19 Leger J pp. 173, 174, quoted by Dr. Henderson, in Vaudois, pp. 8, 9. 

20 Leger, p. 15. 

21 Histoiredes Vaudois, par A. Muston. Paris, 1834. 

22 Leger, pp. 140, 169. 



Voltaire's opinion of their antiquity. 297 

books ; but thej were all taken from him wben lie was car- 
ried to Turin, and thrown into prison, in the year 1655. Nor 
could he find any materials for the history which he after- 
wards wrote, save by going into Dauphiny, and visiting the 
remains of the Waldenses, who still lingered in the valleys 
on the western side of the Alps. 

yil. Opinion of Voltaire respecting the Origin of the 

Waldenses. 

We have given the testimonies of the Waldenses them- 
selves, and that of their Roman Catholic enemies ; let us 
add that of Yoltaire, an enemy to Christianity, under every 
name. 

^ Auricular confession,' he informs us, ' was not received in 
the eighth and ninth centuries in the countries beyond the 
Loire, in Languedoc, in the Alps ; of this Alcuin complains, 
in his letters. The people of those districts seem ever to 
have had a disposition to adhere to the usages of the primi- 
tive Church, and to reject the dogmas and the customs which 
the Church, when more enlarged, saw proper to adopt. 
Those who were called Manicheans, those who have been 
since called Waldenses, Albigenses, Lollards, and who have 
reappeared so often under so many other names, were re- 
mains of the first Christians of Gaul, attached to several 
ancient usages which the court of Rome has since changed, 
and to vague opinions, upon which that court has authorita- 
tively decided with the progress of time. For example, the 
early Christians knew nothing of images. It is a thing 
remarkable enough, that these men, almost unknown to the 
rest of the world, should have constantly persevered, from 
time immemorial, in usages which have been changed every 
where else.'^ 

23 Additions a VHistoire Generale. 12mo. pp. 57, 71. 



298 



THE WALDENSES. 



VIII. Opinions of distinguished Protestants in Relation to 

this Subject, 

Of these we can only give two or three examples. ' As 
for the Waldenses/ says Beza, ' give me leave to call them 
the very seed of the primitive and pure Christian Church, 
being those who have been so upheld by the wonderful prov- 
idence of God, that neither those numberless storms and 
tempests, whereby the whole Christian world hath been 
shaken, nor those horrible persecutions which have been so 
directly raised against them, have been able to prevail upon 
them to yield a voluntary submission to Roman tyranny and 
idolatry.' ^4 

' With the dawn of history' says Sir James Mackintosh, 
^ * we discover some simple Christians in the valleys of the 
Alps, where they still exist under the ancient name of Yau- 
fV^^ \ dois, who, by the light of the New Testament, saw the extra- 
' ^ I ^. -^^ /ordinary contrast between the purity of primitive times and 
the vices of the gorgeous and imperial hierarchy which sur- 
j rounded them. They were not so much distinguished from 
i others by opinions, as by the pursuit of a more innocent and 
I severe life.' ^ On the list of distinguished Protestant authors, 
i who have maintained similar opinions respecting the apos- 
f tolical, or, at least, the very early origin of the Waldenses, 
, we may place Usher, Mede, Vitringa, Sleidan, Drelincourt, 
I and Wake ; names, certainly, of no ordinary authority. 

24 Beza, Icones Virorum doctrina et virtute Ulustrium ; quoted by Dr. Gilly, in his 
Waldensian Researches^ p. 10. 

^ History of England^ by the Right Hon. Sir James Mackintosh, in Lardner's 
Cabinet CyclopadiUy vol. i. p. 321, 



ANTIQUITY OF THEIR DIALECT. 299 



IX. The Antiquity of tjie Waldenses further attested hy the 
Antiquity of the Dialect which they speah 

On this subject M. Renouard, author of an elaborate work 
on the Provengal language and literature, and who discusses 
this question not as an ecclesiastical historian, but simply as 
a philologist, says that ' the dialect of the Vaudois (the Wal- 
denses) is an idiom intermediate between the decomposition of 
the language of the Romans and the establishment of a new 
grammatical system ; a circumstance which attests the high 
antiquity of this dialect in the country which this people 
inhaUt.' ^ 

In speaking of the Noble Lesson, the oldest work which the 
Waldenses have, and which was, as is conceded on all hands, 
written in the twelfth century, and consequently more ancient 
than the greater part of the songs and other writings of the 
Troubadours, this author says : — ' The language seems to me 
to be of an epoch already far separated from its original for- 
mation ; inasmuch as we may remark the suppression of some 
final consonants ; a peculiarity which announces, that the 
words of the long-spohen dialect had already lost somt portion 
of their primitive terminations,^ 

The philological fact, here stated, proves the high antiquity 
of the Waldenses ; for they must have retired to those valleys 
at a remote period, if they left the plains of Italy before the 
establishment of the new grammatical system, of which M. 
Renouard speaks. ' Hence,' remarks Mr. Faber, ^ the pri- 
mevally Latin Vaudois must have retired from the lowlands 
of Italy to the valleys of Piedmont, in the very days of 
primitive Christianity, and before the breaking up of the 



26 Monumens de la Langue Romane, ( Choix des Poesies Originales des Troubadours y) 
torn. ii. p. 137. 



300 THE WALDENSES. 

Roman empire by the persevering incursions of the Teutonic 
nations. But it is scarcely probable, that men would leave 
their homes in the fair, and warm, and fertile country of Italy, 
for the wildness of desolate mountains, and for the squalidity 
of neglected valleys •— valleys, which would require all the 
severe labor of assiduous cultivation ; and mountains, which 
no labor could make productive, unless some very paramount 
and overbearing cause had constrained them to undertake 
such an emigration. Now a cause, precisely of this descrip- 
tion, we have in the persecutions, which, during the second, 
third, and fourth centuries, occurred under the emperors 
Marcus Aurelius, and Maximin, and Decius, and Valerian, 
and Diocletian.' ^ 

Having said what is sufficient respecting the origin and 
antiquity of the Waldenses, we shall proceed to give an out- 
line of their history, after having first taken some notice of 
the country which they inhabit. 

27 An Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses, 
book iii. pp. 285, 286. 



CHAPTER n. 

A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY INHABITED BY 
THE WALDENSES. 

To enable the reader to understand well the sketch of the 
history of the Waldenses, and the notice of their present 
condition, which are to follow, it is necessary that he should 
have some idea of the position and character of the country 
in which they dwell. To this subject we purpose to devote 
the present chapter. 

I. A general Notice of their Territory. 

We begin, then, by remarking, that the country inhabited 
by this martyr-people is in that portion of the States of Sar- 
dinia '^ which is called Piedmont ; a large and fertile country 
lying east of France and Savoy, and south of the western 
Cantons of Switzerland. This country derives its name from 
its geographical position, as lying at the foot of the moun- 
tains, called the Alps. The word ' Piedmont ' is, however, 
strictly speaking, applicable only to the partly level, partly 
undulating and hilly country, which lies immediately east 
and south of the great mountain range just named. But 
usage applies it to large divisions of the kingdom of Sar- 
dinia, though much of it lies in the Alps, and not at their 
foot. 

The district of Piedmont in which the Waldenses live 



28 Commonly called the kingdom of Sardinia, which embraces Piedmont, Savoy, 
the territories of Nice and Genoa, and the Island of Sardinia^ whence the kmgdora 
derives its name. 

26 



302 THE WALDENSE3. 

lies in the Alps, and is situated nearly due southwest from 
Turin, at the distance of about thirty miles from that city. 
Commencing just at the base of the Alps, it reaches up to the 
dividing ridge which separates Piedmont from France and 
Savoy, of which the highest point, called Mont Viso, is on 
the southwestern corner of the Waldensian territory; and 
Mont Genevre, a peak of less elevation, stands on its north- 
western border. Mont Viso exceeds twelve thousand feet in 
height, and is covered, as to its summit, with perpetual 
snow. It has been rightly called the Jungfrau ^ of the South, 
because of its resemblance to the pure and beautiful moun- 
tain of that name, which is in Switzerland. No one, it is said, 
has ever ascended to its summit, though not so high as Mont 
Blanc. This is owing to the steepness, which it derives from 
its conical form. 

We have stated, that the territory of the Waldenses lies 
wholly in the Alps, and this is true. Apparently, however, 
the parish of St. Jean, which forms a portion of the most 
eastern frontier of their country, lies in the plain below, 
instead of being within the mountain range. But, in reality, 
that parish lies in the wide gorge, if we may so term it, or 
opening, between two projecting spurs of the Alps, one on 
the north and the other on the south. It is within the valley 
of the river Felice, just above the issuing of that river from 
the region of the Alps into the plain country below. As that 
part of the valley is wide, the parish of St. Jean appears to 
be lying in the lowlands, instead of being within the embrace 
of the mountains. 

This parish contains the best land appertaining to the 
"Waldenses. It is undulating, rather than level, is finely 
cultivated, and densely settled. Besides St. Jean, which is 
its chief village, it has a number of places, which are either 
villages or hamlets. In like manner, the parish of Frarustin 

29 The Virgin. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 303 

is a finely undulating one, and resembles the lowlands which 
border the Alps on their eastern side ; but it is, properly- 
speaking, within the valley of the river Clusone. 

The parishes of St. Jean and Prarustin are, in fact, the 
frontier of the country on the east, and far exceed, in extent 
of tillable and fertile land, any of the interior and more 
mountainous parishes. These parishes, one being the lowest 
in the valley of Luserne, and the other the lowest in that of 
Clusone, shall be our points of departure, when we set out to 
explore the interior of the Waldensian country. The former 
of these parishes lies north of the Pelice, and the latter south 
of the Clusone, which rivers form, at the foot of the Alps, 
the southern and northern boundaries of the land of the 
Waldenses. 

By an inspection of the accompanying map, the reader 
will perceive, that their country is but a few miles wide on its 
eastern border, and that the parishes above named are like 
advanced outposts, or rather they are the gateways, through 
which one must enter it from the east. A lofty mountain 
projects eastward between them, from the summit of which 
there is one of the finest views in the world. As the spec- 
tator, standing on that spot some fine day in midsummer, 
looks to the south, he has the beautiful parish of St. Jean at 
his feet, covered with vineyards and fruitful fields, verdant 
meadows, and dotted over with little villages and hamlets. 
If he extend his view further in the same direction, it will 
rest on the extended valley of Luserne, and take in the vil- 
lage of that name. La Tour, and many others. Beyond this 
lovely valley, he will see the lofty Envers rearing up its 
head ; in the southwest, he will behold, at a great distance, 
the snow-clad peak of Mont Viso, out-topping the intervening 
high and hoary ranges of the Alps. If he turn to the east, 
the vast valley of the Po spreads out before him, with all its 
richness and beauty. To the northeast lies the great plain, in 



304 THE WALDENSES. 

which is situated the city of Pignerol, and the distant capital, 
bordered on the west by the stupendous ranges of the Alps, 
the highest of which, in an almost due northern direction, is 
Mont Cenis. When the atmosphere is perfectly clear, it is 
said that the city of Milan can be discerned from this elevated 
point, and especially the white walls of its splendid cathedral. 

On the northeast, the country of the Waldenses is bounded 
by the river Clusone to the distance of about ten miles ; then 
the boundary quits that stream at a point some two miles 
above Perouse, and follows the dividing mountain which 
hedges in the valley of St. Martin, and separates the streams 
which flow into the river St. Martin, from those which flow 
into the upper portion of the Clusone, in what is called 
the Valley of Pragela. Then, turning due south, it runs 
along the ridge of the Alps that separates Piedmont 
from Savoy and France, till it almost reaches Mont Viso. 
On the south, the Pelice is the boundary some four miles, up 
to a short distance above Luserne, which stands on the left 
bank of the river. From that point it pursues an almost 
due southern direction, across the valley of the Lusernette, a 
small branch of the Pelice, to the top of a ridge of the Alps, 
which it pursues due west till it intersects the western 
boundary, already described, at a short distance north of 
Mont Viso. 

The greatest length of the country, from southeast to 
northwest, is about twenty-two miles ; whilst its greatest 
width scarcely exceeds sixteen. Its area may be estimated 
at considerably less than three hundred square miles. The 
Protestant or Waldensian population is rather less than 
twenty-two thousand ; and the Roman Catholics living among 
them are more than four thousand ; making the entire num- 
ber of the inhabitants in this little district of country twenty- 
six thousand, or about ninety-five souls, on an average, to each 
square mile. This is a greater population to the square mile 



DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 305 

than most of our oldest states possess. And yet it will 
appear, in the course of our notices of it, that the Waldensian 
territory is almost wholly covered with mountains, so that 
probably not one sixth part of the surface can, by any effort 
of man, be cultivated. 

The reader will perceive, that two considerable mountain- 
rivers drain this country. The Felice, and all its upper 
confluents, rise in its southern portion. The Clusone only 
passes along its northeastern border,^^ whilst one of its 
larger branches, the St. Martin, runs wholly within the 
northern part of it. Down in the plain below, these rivers 
unite, and flow into the Po. 

The only parishes which have much good land in them, 
are those of Prarustin, which slopes down northward to the 
Clusone, and lies, as we have stated, at the entrance of the 
Waldensian side of the valley, through which that river 
runs ; St. Jean, which inclines southward to the Pelice, and 
forms the entrance into the valley of that river, or of Lu- 
seme, as it is commonly called ; La Tour, which lies higher 
up the Pelice ; Yillar, which lies higher up still ; and Bobi, 
which occupies the uppermost part of the same valley. As to 
the parishes in the southwestern half of the valley of the Clu- 
sone, and those in the valleys of Angrogna and St. Martin, 
they contain almost no level or bottom lands at all, and con- 
sist of the sides and summits of the mountains, of which but 
a small portion can be cultivated. 

The time has been, when the Waldenses not only pos- 
sessed the entire valley of the Clusone and its upper streams, 
but also had numerous settlements and several churches in 
the valley of the Dora, in the neighborhood of Susa, towards 



30 It is a singular fact, that the Clusone, in all its course along the Waldensian 
country, passes close to mountains, which stand on its right bank ; whilst there is a 
wide border of fertile land along its left. Once, that fine bank belonged to the poor 
Waldenses ; now it is in the possession of their enemies. 

26* 



306 THE WALDENSES. 

the north ; and not a few in the principality of Saluzzo, and 
along the valley of that confluent of the Po which rises near 
Mont Yiso, and gives name to the river below. But perse- 
cution after persecution, and war after war, has reduced their 
territory to its present small dimensions. Whether they are 
to suffer further encroachments, time only can reveal. 

Having made these general remarks respecting their 
country, we proceed to speak of it in detail. 

II. The Valley of Liiserne. 

We commence our notices of the several valleys which 
compose the country of the Waldenses, with that of Luserne, 
which is the most important of all. At its entrance we come 
to the parish of St. Jean, of which the chief village bears the 
same name. Besides this, there are several hamlets, of 
which the most important are Peyrot, Gonin, Blonat, and 
Au-Fond. The church which the people of this parish long 
frequented was in the village Chiabas, on the confines of 
the valley of Angrogna, and quite remote from the centre of 
the parish. This was owing to the opposition of the Koman 
Catholic hierarchy, who could not tolerate a Protestant 
church in St. Jean, because of its proximity to Pignerol, the 
nearest city in Italy to the country of the Waldenses, and 
the seat of an archbishopric. In fact, many efforts have 
been made by the bishops of that city, and the other clergy, 
to expel the Protestants altogether from this fertile district. 
But when the French overran this country, in the days of 
Napoleon, the Waldenses, who were treated with great kind- 
ness by that wonderful man, and at once liberated from every 
oppressive edict and law of the down-fallen government, lost 
no time in erecting a substantial, spacious, and fine-looking 
church. It will contain, it is said, nine hundred persons. 
The Roman Catholics tried hard to have it closed, and for 
awhile succeeded. But failing in that object ultimately, they 



VALLEY OF LUSERNE. 307 

insisted upon having a great screen, or bulwark of boards, 
erected in front of it, in drder that the singing might not in- 
terrupt the services in their church, which stands a few rods 
from it. 

The Protestant population of the parish of St. Jean is two 
thousand three hundred and twenty-five souls ; that of the 
Roman Catholic is only one hundred and twenty -five. This 
is by far the richest and most lovely parish in all the valleys. 
It is covered with orchards, vineyards, and cultivated fields, 
which produce wheat, rye, barley, potatoes, flax, hemp, 
Indian corn, etc. Many mulberry trees adorn the road-sides, 
and enable almost all the families to make more or less of 
silk for their own use or for trade. Beautiful meadows slope 
down to the Felice, which flows along the southern border of 
this parish, as we have already stated, diffusing fertility over 
the plain, and not unfrequently spreading desolation, when 
the vernal and autumnal freshets cause it to overflow its 
banks. 

Nothing can exceed the beauty of the vineyards in this 
and some others of the sub-alpine parishes of the Waldenses. 
High stakes or poles are planted in rows at the interval of 
ten or fifteen feet, and boughs of trees fastened to the tops of 
these are extended from one to another, forming a sort of 
canopy, when covered with vines ; and yet not so dense as to 
prevent the growth of wheat or corn, etc., beneath. On the 
elevated summits of the hills which rise near the mountain 
that overhangs this parish on the eastward, many beautiful 
little copses and groves of forest trees are seen, and give 
additional charms to the scene. 

Two miles above St. Jean, stands the more considerable 
village of La Tour, which has been styled the ' Lacedaemon 
of the Valleys.' It is, in fact, the most important town in 
the country of the Waldenses, and yet its population does not 
exceed, we should think, five hundred souls. Several ham- 



308 THE WALDENSES. 

lets adjacent, such as St. Margarita, in which is the College 
of the Trinity, erected within the last few years, and of which 
we shall speak in another place, and a little beyond it, and 
further up the valley, is Copies, where is the church of the 
parish of La Tour, and a hospital for the benefit of the sick- 
poor of the valleys. The latter was erected by donations 
obtained in various Protestant countries. Among those who 
most liberally contributed to found this excellent charity, 
were the late kmg of Prussia, and the late Emperor Alexan- 
der of Russia ; the former of whom gave ten thousand francs, 
and the latter twelve thousand francs, through the late Count 
Waldbourg-Truchsess. This institution is a great blessing to 
these valleys, and is admirably conducted by the worthy 
physician who has charge of it. 

La Tour stands just above the river Angrogna, and about 
half a mile from the point where that stream joins the Pelice. 
It derives its name from a fortress which once existed on the 
high rocky eminence that stands just in the rear of it, but 
which has been so entirely dismantled that it is difficult to 
ascertain its site. The Poman Catholics have lately erected 
a large cathedral and a monastery, at this place. The mon- 
astery is to serve, not only as the residence of monks, but 
also as a seminary in which young men may be trained up 
for the conversion of the ' heretics ' of these valleys. 

The situation of La Tour combines much of the romantic 
and the beautiful. It stands almost at the junction of two 
rapid mountain rivers, on the side of a delightful valley, at 
the base of the lofty Mount Vandalin, and is overhung by 
the bold rock of the Castelluzzo, which rears its head up Hke 
an elevated and solitary tower. 

The parish of La Tour, in its level and alluvial portions, 
is fertile. Its productions are the same as those of the parish 
of St. Jean. But here begin to be seen the cultivated spots, 
and the bold terrace rising above terrace, on the mountain 



I 



VALLEY OF LUSERNE. 309 

side, which form so remarkable a feature in these valleys. 
The population of this parish is nearly as great as that of St. 
Jean ; but, what is remarkable, the Roman Catholics are far 
more numerous than in other portions of the valleys. 

The village of La Tour, like most of those in the parishes 
of St. Jean and Prarustin, is composed of houses which seem 
to be sufficiently spacious to accommodate conveniently those 
who occupy them. In most cases they are built of brick or 
stone, and stuccoed or whitewashed, and have a very differ- 
ent appearance from the little, plain, and uncomfortable stone 
houses, which one sees in almost all the hamlets and villages 
in the other parishes. 

La Tour has been the scene of many calamities. In the 
year 1560, the Count de la Trinite gave it up to indiscrimi- 
nate slaughter. In 1593, the Spanish mercenaries, in the 
service of the Duke of Savoy, laid the greater part of it in 
ashes, and pillaged the miserable inhabitants in the most 
brutal manner. ^^ But all this was nothing in comparison 
with the horrible scenes which occurred there in the year 
1655, under the orders of the atrocious Pianezza — of which 
we shall speak in another place. 

There are many chestnut trees and walnut trees in the 
lower part of the valley of Luserne ; but they become far 
more numerous, as one ascends. 

After passing several villages and hamlets, we come next 
to Villar — the chief town in the parish of the same name. 
This parish contains two thousand six hundred and fifty-nine 
Protestants, and three hundred and ninety-five Roman Cath- 
olics. Here, the Valley has become greatly contracted, and 
the bottom land along the Pelice is narrow, not much ex- 



31 According to Gilles, one of the most ancient of the historians of the Waldenses, 
' they shamefully stripped noble ladies who were there, and even~cut off the fingers of 
some of them who could not readily pull off their gold rings.' In former times, we 
may remark, the Waldenses could boast of not a few noble families. 



310 THE WALDENSES. 

ceeding a third part of a mile in width. It is well cultivated, 
as are also such portions of the sides of the mountains as are 
susceptible of it, up to a considerable height. The village of 
Miliar has an old and grotesque appearance. The houses 
are of all shapes and sizes, and many of them are clearly 
in a condition of inchoate dilapidation. There are two 
churches, one for Protestants, the other for Roman Catholics. 
The inconsiderate destruction of a Convent of the Roman- 
ists, through the instigation of a traitor, hired by the Propa- 
ganda, in the year 1653, was one of the causes which led to 
the dreadful war that happened two years later. And yet it 
is not wonderful that the Protestants burned that convent, 
for they had indubitable evidence that the monks were mak- 
ing a mine from beneath it to the Protestant church, for the 
purpose of blowing up the ' heretics ' whilst engaged in 
public worship. 

Continuing our way westward up through the villages of 
Vignes, Cassarots, Garnier, and Planter, 'All,' says one of 
the Waldensian historians, ^^ ' baptized with blood, and wit- 
nesses of heroic combats,' we enter, upon crossing the torrent 
and bridge of the Subiasque, the parish of Bobi, which is 
the uppermost in the valley of Luserne. Here the scene 
changes from the beautiful into that of the sublime, and even 
into the awful. The level alluvial land in the bottom of the 
valley expands about Bobi into the shape of a basin, but soon 
contracts above it into a narrow strip, of a quarter of a mile 
in width, and finally disappears altogether. Thence up to the 
Col de la Croix, the ridge which forms the French boundary, 
there is nothing but deep, and even apparently unfathomable 
ravines, in w^hich lie the channels of the head stream of the 
Pelice and its highest confluents, overhung by stupendous 
masses of rocks. There is not in all the Alps any scenery 

32 Muston, Hist. p. 55. 



VALLEY OF LUSERNE. 311 

which is more grand and imposing. Nor are these ravines 
without inhabitants. Little hamlets are to be found at vari- 
ous points, in all directions, wherever it is possible to find a 
spot on the sides of the mountains, in the shape of basin or 
terrace, or little hollow, that is susceptible of cultivation. 
Indeed, in some cases there are hamlets where there is no 
ground which can be cultivated, save a little patch for a 
garden. In these cases the inhabitants are chiefly occupied 
in cutting timber in the winter, and dragging it down to 
Bobi ; in the summer they look after the herds of cattle, and 
flocks of sheep and goats which are driven up to the pasture 
on the alps, or grassy spots, on the sides and lowest summits 
of the mountains. 

The village of Bobi, almost hidden in a grove of walnut 
and chestnut trees, is bounded on two sides by the projecting 
rocks of the mountain. On the side next to the Pelice it 
was formerly exposed to the danger of being washed away 
when that stream becomes swollen by the freshets, which in 
the spring and autumn, but especially the former, come rush- 
ing down from the mountain-defiles. In those times the 
destruction of property, from this cause, was occasionally 
immense. But a strong and long dyke, or breakwater, was 
erected, chiefly by contributions made in England, ^ after the 
fatal inundation of 1740. 

In this elevated and wonderful region occurred many of 
those astonishing events in Waldensian history which give it 
so much the air of romance. In the rear of Bobi, and con- 
siderably up the side of the mountain, stands the hamlet of 
Sibaud, which takes its name from a Count de Sibaud, a 



33 The sum sent from England on that occasion was forty-two thousand three 
hundred and eighty-three francs, or about two thousand five hundred pounds ster- 
ling, according to the value of money and rate of exchange at that time. This 
money was expended in making a breakwater, which still remains, and in assist- 
ing those who had suffered by the flood. — Gilly-s Waldensian Researches^ p. 350. 



312 THE WALDENSES. 

Savoyard officer, who was driven from a fortress which stood 
on a projecting cliff at this place, by a band of Waldensian 
soldiers in the year 1689, under Henri Arnaud. Sword in 
hand, he led his men by a winding way, amid trees and crags, 
till he got above the fort, and then carrying it by assault, he 
compelled the Savoyards to precipitate themselves headlong 
down the steep sides of the rocky citadel, on to the trees and 
masses of stone below. It was a scene of dreadful carnage. 

The parish of Bobi contains at present one thousand five 
hundred and thirty-seven Protestants. The number of Ro- 
man Catholics is seventy-six, and would be less than it is if it 
were not for the carabiniers and custom-house officers who 
are stationed here, on account of the road which leads into 
France, from this valley, over the Col de la Croix. The 
Protestant church is of considerable size ; that of the Roman 
Catholics is small. 

In this parish, high up the chief source of the Pelice, stood 
in former times, the celebrated Fort Mirabouc, the ruins of 
which still remain. It occupied the summit of a huge insu- 
lated rock, three hundred feet high, and almost inaccessible. 
Its position could enable a handful of men to defend the 
country against invasion from France by this route, for the 
ravine in which it stood is deep, and there is barely a foot- 
path along the edge of the foaming torrent which rushes 
down from the region above. During the first Revolution in 
France, a company of soldiers from that country, headed by 
an officer, passed over the Col de la Croix, and descending 
the narrow valley of the Pelice, took Fort Mirabouc without 
striking a blow. French gold effected on that occasion what 
French arms could not have done had the garrison and its 
commander done their duty. With this base transaction was 
connected one of the most horrible of the many plots which 
the enemies of the Waldenses have ever laid for their de- 



VALLEY OF RORA. 313 

struction. The facts we, shall state in our notices of the 
history of that wonderful, that heaven-protected people. 

In the upper part of this parish, also, is the famous local- 
ity, named La Sarcena, where the persecution which the 
Waldenses endured in the year 1655, and which has been so 
graphically described by Leger, was marked by cruelties of 
the most horrible nature.^ 

But let us turn to a more pleasing theme. Just opposite 
to Bobi, on the south side of the Felice, and at the upper end 
of the meadows which lie on that side of the river, stands the 
little village of Laiis, on a gently sloping hill, which is cov- 
ered, in the summer, with cytisus and blossoming broom* 
This village is remarkable for the salubrity of its climate^ 
and the longevity of its inhabitants. Some fifteen years ago^ 
two matrons died there in the course of the same week, one at 
the age of ninety-three, and the other at one hundred and 
four. 

III. The Valley of Eora. 

The valley of Rora incloses the little stream called Lu-- 
sernette, which falls into the Felice below the Roman Cath- 
olic town of Luserne. The chief village in this valley is 
Rora, whence it derives its name. It is usually approached 
by ascending the valley from Luserne. But the task is not 
an easy one, for the path is rough and narrow, almost from 
the outset, and becomes very steep, zigzag, and rocky towards 
the last. 

There are several hamlets in this elevated valley, which 
are all comprised in the parish of Rora. The village of 
Rora, where stands the Frotestant church, is an inconsid- 
erable place. The entire population of the parish is seven 

34 ' Des femmes eventrees et con\'nlsives furent laissees agonissanles sur les. 
neiges, el leurs enfans jettes en vie par les rochers ! ' Quoted by Muston, in his; 
Histoire des Vaudois, liv. i. p. 62. 

27 



314 THE WALDENSES. 

hundred and twenty-five, of whom fortj-one are Roman 
Catholics, who have a small church of their own. 

Few portions of the valleys contain a greater amount of 
scenery, picturesque, beautiful, and bold, than the commune 
of Rora. Poor as is its soil, and elevated and bleak as are 
the rocky barriers of its upper section, it is said that a 
smaller number of its inhabitants go into France, and other 
distant parts, in quest of employment, than from almost any 
other parish in all the country of the Waldenses. 

But Rora is not without its history. Even here, in this 
secluded valley, marvellous things have occurred, one of 
which was the famous resistance which was made in the year 
1655, by Captain Janavel, a native of that village, with a 
handful of men — for the population of Rora consisted, at that 
epoch, of only twenty-five families — to an army of ten thou- 
sand men, sent by the Marquis of Pianessa, under the com- 
mand of Count Christovel, to destroy their houses and cut 
down their trees, as a punishment for not having obeyed his 
summons to attend mass within the space of twenty-four 
hours. ' We prefer death a thousand times to the mass, 
since you have never been able to show that Jesus Christ 
and his apostles celebrated it. If, after burning our houses, 
you should cut down our trees, our Heavenly Father will be 
our good provider.' Such was the reply which these poor 
people made. Nor were their enemies long in making their 
appearance. But Janavel defeated them in many battles, 
and maintained a successful resistance, until he was compelled 
to retreat for want of ammunition. He then retired over 
mountains covered with snow, into Val Queyras, in France, 
where he found both supplies of men and provisions. He 
was afterwards joined by the brave Jahier, a man equally 
renowned in Waldensian annals, in the valley of Angrogna, 
and proceeded to St. Secundo, which he stormed and cap- 
tured, though defended by ten times as many Piedmontese 



VALLEY OF PEROUSE. 315 

and Irish troops as he and Jahier commanded. But Rora 
suffered much durmg that war, for the armies of the Duke of 
Savoy marched twice over the dead bodies of its brave de- 
fenders and pillaged the ill-fated village, after having violated 
the women, and massacred its inhabitants, of every sex and 
age. 

And yet, when the French overran and conquered Pied- 
mont, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, Victor 
Amadeus, duke of Savoy, took refuge in Rora, a place 
which had suffered more injuries from him and his ancestors 
than any other portion of the valleys. What a remarkable 
providence, that compelled the wolf to seek a home and pro- 
tection with the lamb ! But the inhabitants of that valley 
acted in a manner worthy of their Christian principles. 
They formed a life-guard, and nobly protected their fallen 
monarch, until Prince Eugene arrived with an army near 
Turin. Amadeus then left Rora to concert measures, on the 
top of the Superga, with that great commander, for the relief 
of his besieged capital. Upon quitting his place of retreat, 
he gave his silver goblet, or drinking-cup, to the family to 
whose kindness and hospitality he had been most indebted, 
and confirmed to them the privilege of using their garden as 
a burial-ground. From father to son, that silver cup de- 
scended as an heir-loom in that family, who cherished it as a 
memorial of the fidelity of their excellent ancestor to his 
fallen prince.^ 

IV. The Valley of Perouse. 

Having spoken of the most southern portion of the Wal- 
densian territory, we will next turn our attention to the most 



35 We are sorry to add, thai Durand- Canton, the last possessor of this cup, was 
compelled by poverty, some twenty or twenty-five years a^o, to pawn it at Pignerol 
for the paltry sum of twelve francs, or two dollars and a quarter of our money. 
As he was not able to redeem it within the lime allowed, he lost it forever. 



316 THE WALDENSES. 

northern, leaving the valley of Angrogna, which may be said 
to be the most central, as well as the most famous of all these 
valleys, to be described last. 

The valley through which the river Clusone runs, is di- 
vided into three sections, the lowest of which is called the 
valley of Clusone ; the middle, the valley of Perouse ; and 
the upper, the valley of Pragela. The first and last named, 
form no part of the Waldensian territory at present. Nor 
does the portion of the middle, which lies along the left bank 
of the Clusone, and which is by far the more extensive and 
fertile. The Waldenses have lost this also. 

We have, then, to confine our remarks to the country 
which lies on the right bank of the river, from the most 
eastern boundary of the country of the Waldenses up to the 
Germanesca, where we shall quit the valley of Perouse, to 
enter that of St. Martin. 

The lowest Waldensian parish in the valley of Perouse, is 
that of Prarustin, which is opposite to that of St. Jean. And 
next to that parish, it is the most productive portion of all 
these valleys. It abounds in vines, fruit-trees, wheat, maize 
or Indian corn, and rye. The country slopes down from the 
mountain, which bounds it on the south, to the river Clusone. 
A large portion of this parish is undulating r. whilst a part 
of it consists of the mountain-side. 

There are two Protestant churches in this parish; the 
larger at St. Barthelemi, and the other at Rochplate, about 
two miles to the west. There is a Roman Catholic church at 
St. Barthelemi. This parish contains two thousand four 
hundred and seven Protestants, and sixty Roman Catholics.^^ 

The next parish, as one ascends the Clusone, is that of St. 
Germain, which takes its name from its chief village, a very 

36 There is also a Catholic church and convent at the village of Turin, about mid- 
way between St. Barthelemi and St. Germain. 



VALLEY OF PEROUSE. 317 

pleasant one, that stands in a cove of considerable extent. 
A turn of the river, to the eastward, forms quite an extensive 
plain, in the midst of which stands St. Germain. But nine 
tenths of this parish lie on the mountain-side, where one sees, 
here and there, hamlets occupying points of various elevation, 
amid patches of cultivated land. 

The village of St. Germain consists mainly of one street, 
and possesses some houses that are much better in structure 
and appearance than those which one sees in most of even 
the larger villages in these valleys. It, too, has its history. 
Not a few remarkable scenes occurred here during those 
centuries, first of petty or insulated persecution, and after- 
wards of war, through which the Waldenses were called to 
pass.^ 

Above the parish of St. Germain, and between it and the 
valley of St. Martin, lies the parish of Pramol, which is 
almost wholly mountainous, there being scarcely any level 
land in it. The chief village of this parish is that from 
which it derives its name. It stands at the distance of about 
four miles from St. Germain, and the ascent to it is, through 
the greater part of the way, by a steep zigzag path, amid 
rocks and loose stones, and is extremely difficult. Many small 
hamlets are seen on the sides of the mountains at intervals, 
throughout this parish. The Protestants are one thousand 
three hundred and fifty-eight in number, and have a 
church, — a new one, built in the summer of 1844 — at the 
village of Pramol ; the Roman Catholics are one hundred 
and fifty, and have a small church at a considerable distance 
lower down the valley. 

37 One of the most remarkable of the events alluded to above, was the carrying- 
off, on one occasion, by a combination of stratagem and force, a most worthy pastor of 
this village ; his imprisonment at Pignerol, the fruitless efforts made by the monks to 
convert him to Romanism, and his cruel death at the stake — a death which he bore 
with a fortitude and a triumph worthy of the first Christian martyrs. 

27* 



318 THE WALDENSES. 

On the opposite side of the Clusone, at the base of a lofty 
and bleak mountain-ridge, abounding in granite, of which 
there is a remarkable quarry in front of St. Germain, runs 
an admirable road, which was made by that imperial road- 
maker. Napoleon. This highway commences at Pignerol, 
and, pursuing a northwesterly course, it passes the considera- 
ble village of Perouse, which stands at the upper end of the 
valley which bears the same name. Thence its course is up 
the valley of Pragela, in which it passes the celebrated for- 
tress of Fenestrelle, that defends the Piedmontese territory, 
on that part of its frontier. From the upper end of the val- 
ley of Pragela, it crosses Mont Genevre into France, and 
descends the valley of the Durance by the cities of Brian9on5 
Embrun, etc. 

By the same valley, it is generally believed, Julius Caesar 
entered Gaul ; and by many it is supposed that Annibal in- 
vaded Italy. And as this route was the most direct from 
Rome to Lyons, it is not at all improbable that Irenaeus, and 
other Christian missionaries in early times, traversed these 
regions, and were the first to introduce the gospel among its 
inhabitants.^ 

V. Valley of St. Martin. 

Opposite to the Roman Catholic town of Perouse, the 
Germanesca, which flows through the valley of St. Martin, 
falls into the Clusone. A rude wooden bridge, resting on 
piles of stone, leads from Perouse over to Pomaret, which 
stands between the tw^o rivers just named. The site is 
beautiful. 

This village is the most important one in the parish to 
which it gives name. It is called Pomaret, because it stands 



38 Ammianus Marcellinus describes this route as ' media, compendia magisquc 
Celebris.' Gilly's Researches^ pp. 55-61. 



VALLEY OF ST. MARTIN. 819 

in the midst of orchards. In the rear of it, to the northwest, 
lie the mountains which separate the valley of St. Martin from 
that of Pragela. In front, and across the German esca, rises 
the high, wooded mountain region, beyond which Pramol is 
situated. Whilst up the valley of St. Martin, to the west, 
the Alps, in range above range, raise their lofty heads, as 
they retire in the distance. 

On both sides of the Germanesca, and for the most part on 
the sides of the mountains, stand several hamlets which are 
included in this parish. The Protestants, who are one thou- 
sand five hundred and fifteen in number, have a church at 
Pomaret which will contain one thousand persons. It is a 
good, substantial, and neat-looking building. Its erection took 
place in the year 1828. It cost the sum of sixteen thousand 
francs, of which the Emperor Alexander of Russia gave a 
considerable portion. The Roman Catholic population is two 
hundred and twenty-two in number, and has also a church 
and a curate. There is at Pomaret a grammar-school ; also a 
small hospital, or dispensary, which will accommodate some 
ten or fifteen sick people. This village was the scene of the 
pastoral labors of the late Rev. J. Rodolphe Peyrani, one of 
the most distinguished of the Waldensian clergy in modern 
times. We shall have occasion to speak of him in another 
place. 

At the distance of a mile or two above Pomaret, the 
Germanesca passes through a narrow mountain defile, which is 
barely wide enough to allow the river, which here has the force 
of a vast torrent, to rush through. Stupendous rocks are piled 
up on each side of the stream, and form a scene of surpass- 
ing grandeur. We know not where we have seen any thing of 
the sort, which can be compared with it. It is the gateway to 
the valley of St. Martin. The road passes over a stone bridge, 
from the left to the right bank, a short distance below this 
wonderful defile, which seems to have been cleft by the hand 



320 THE WALDENSES. 

of God, to form an outlet for the waters of the river. As a 
space barely wide enough for the road has been hewn out of 
the solid rock, nothing could be easier than to block it up, and 
effectually prevent the entrance of a hostile force — a meas- 
ure which the Waldenses were often compelled to adopt. 

The scenery in the valley of St. Martin, frequently and 
rapidly changes, from the most wild, rugged, and striking 
aspect, to the most attractive beauty. Throughout its entire 
length, there is very little bottom, or alluvial land. Wherever 
there is a spot that is susceptible of cultivation, whether it 
consist of several acres, or is a mere nook, there the hand of 
man is at work to turn it to a proper account. Yast moun- 
tains, of various elevation, bound the valley on both sides, 
and give it a most picturesque appearance. 

The first parish above Pomaret, is that of Yille Seche, so 
called from its chief village, which occupies an acclivity on 
the left bank of the Germanesca. To ascend to it requires 
no little effort, for the path is steep and rough. There are 
eight or ten hamlets in this parish, whose whole population 
is two thousand four hundred and seventy-six souls, of whom 
one thousand six hundred and seventy-six are Protestants, 
and eight hundred Roman Catholics. There is a Protestant 
church at Yille Seche. It was in this parish that Leger, the 
historian of his country, was born. 

In this parish the vine is but little cultivated ; wheat, rye, 
and potatoes are the chief agricultural productions. 

In the year 1560, the hamlet of Rioclaret, on the south 
side of this parish, was greatly harassed by its feudal lords, 
Charles and Boniface de Truchet, who were bitter enemies 
of the Waldenses, and displayed their hatred both in secret 
machinations and open violence. Having interrupted the 
public service for the purpose of seizing the pastor by force, 
they were repelled by the indignant, but unarmed people. 
Overwhelmed with shame by their defeat, Charles Truchet 



VALLEY OF ST. MARTIN. 321 

raised a large band of soldiers and attacked the poor villa- 
gers, drove them into the highest and coldest portions of the 
mountains, and destroyed everything before him. During 
this incursion, the pastor of the village of St. Martin was 
taken prisoner, carried to Pignerol, and burned by the 
monks. This aroused their brethren in the valley of Clu- 
sone, who, headed by their pastor, the larhe Martin, ^^ 
marched, to the number of four hundred, to their relief. A 
deadly conflict ensued near the summit of a mountain, where 
Truchet had posted his men. But some of the "Waldensian 
slingers having gained the top, attacked the enemy in the 
rear, whilst the main body engaged them in front. In the 
end Truchet and his six hundred soldiers were routed, and 
many of them were slain in the retreat, because of the depth 
of snow which greatly hindered their flight. As for Truchet, 
after having been twice wounded, and abandoned by his men, 
he was finally despatched with his own sword by a peasant. ^ 
Ascending the valley still higher, the scene becomes more 
savage. The bottom of the valley becomes very narrow, and 
the sides consist of alternate projections of masses of naked 
rocks and deep intervening wooded ravines and coves. 
Everything announces that this region belongs to the High 
Alps. Masses of snow are seen in midsummer, in the 
ravines which are high up towards the summits of the moun- 
tains, and have a northern exposure. We need not wonder, 
therefore, that the next parish, that of Maneille, which 
includes several hamlets, besides the village of that name, 
situated like Villa Seche on a mountain-slope, contains no 
more than five hundred and seven souls, of whom two hun- 
dred and nine are Roman Catholics. There are churches of 
both communions in this parish. 

39 The Waldenses call Iheir pastors barbes, which signifies uncle ; whence ihey 
themselves are called barbels^ by their enemies. 

40 Gilly's Excursions^ Appendix VIL 



322 



THE WALDENSES. 



Nearly opposite to Maneille, is the Eocca Bianca, or 
White Eock, a mountain so named from its fine white 
marble, conspicuous from afar. This region abounds in 
excellent white marble, equal, as is believed, to that of Car- 
rara, but the transportation is so difiicult that there is little 
prospect that it will be much wrought. Within a few years, 
however, the attempt has been made to render these treas- 
ures available. In the same neighborhood there is a quarry 
of talc, or pierre douce,^ which has been worked to some 
extent. 

Pursuing a northwest course, and ascending still higher 
the deep and gloomy valley, through which a mountain tor- 
rent comes pitching down, we arrive at the parish of Macel, 
so called from the principal village in it, which stands on the 
left bank of the stream. The valley, long before one arrives 
at this point, becomes exceedingly picturesque. In several 
places, rocks surmounted with larches and pines, rise perpen- 
dicularly, in awful grandeur, from almost the very edge of 
the water, so that it would seem impossible to make a road 
between them and the river. 

In this region, little is done in the way of agriculture 
beyond the raising of potatoes, wherever there is a spot that 
can be cultivated. And yet this parish, which until lately 
was annexed to that of Maneille, has a population of one 
thousand and thirty-eight souls, of whom seven hundred and 
ninety-two are Protestants, and two hundred and forty-six 
are Roman Catholics. 

In the upper part of this parish, and just beneath the 
Col-du-Pis and Mont Guignevert, is the hamlet of Basille, 
on the left bank of the torrent, — for it deserves not the name 
of river at that point — which is opposite the famous high, 

41 So called from its oily feel and friable consistence, out of which Ihe inhabitants 
form excellent kitchen utensils. Waldenses Illustrated, by Dr. Beatlie, p. 78. 



VALLEY OF ST. MARTIN. 323 

cone-shaped mass of rocks, called Balsi. Occupying this 
natural fortress, a few hundred Waldensian soldiers, under 
the command of Henri Arnaud, in the winter of 1G89, 90, 
long defended themselves against twenty-two thousand 
French and Savoyard troops, and then, when defence was no 
longer possible, retreated to the mountain in the rear of it, 
with scarcely the loss of a man. This spot has well been 
denominated the ' Thermopylae of the Valleys.' 

The parishes of Maneille and Macel, as the reader will 
perceive by referring to the map, lie in the valley of one of 
the two considerable streams which unite above Perrero, and 
form the Germanesca. The other branch — which bears the 
name of the river below — comes down from the southwest. 
If we ascend that stream, we shall be struck with the 
increased wildness and barrenness of the country. The side 
of the mountain which bounds the river on the right bank 
has a considerable growth of timber in its ravines, and near 
its base. But that on the left bank is composed, for the most 
part, of naked rocks. There is scarcely any bottom land 
throughout its entire course. And what there is, is covered 
in many places, with masses of rocks which have detached 
themselves from the mountain-sides, and rolled, with a tre- 
mendous crash, into the valley below. In some cases the 
river is almost blocked up with them. At first sight, a 
stranger would come to the conclusion that no human being 
would ever think of taking up his abode in a region, abound- 
ing indeed in sublime and imposing scenery, but wdthal so 
wild and dreary, that it would be pronounced uninhabitable. 
And most certainly nothing short of dire necessity, we may 
conclude, could make any one take up his residence in such a 
region. 

The first parish on the upper Germanesca is that of 
Rodoret, which takes its name from a village that stands 
some two miles to the left of the river, and on a small con- 



324 THE WALDENSES. 

fluent. It contains six hundred and eighty inhabitants, of 
whom five hundred and thirty are Protestants, and one hun- 
dred and fifty are Roman Catholics. Both communions 
have churches. This parish was, until w.' ain three or four 
years, annexed to that of Prali. But it was almost impossi- 
ble for the pastor of the united churches to get from one to 
the other during the winter, which always lasts eight months, 
and sometimes nine, in ^his high region. 

The parish of Prali includes the highest portion of the 
valley of the Germanesca, or of St. Martin, as it is usually 
called. The entire population of this parish is ^.ight hundred 
and four souls, of whom seven hundred and ninety-three are 
Waldenses, or Protestants, and eleven are Roman Catholics, 
who are mostly connected with the custom-house service, as 
there is a route leading into France from the upper part of 
this valley. Their little church is at the village of Prali. 
The Protestant church is two miles higher up, at a village 
called Guigot. 

This is decidedly the wildest and most barren of all the 
parishes of the Waldenses. The pines that grow on the 
sides of the mountains, which hem in the valley, are few, 
scattered, and very dwarfish. On the south, the valley is 
completely shut in by the lofty range forming the Col de 
Julien, ^ whose elevated peaks and crags, and highest sides 
are covered, even in July, with snow. Not unfrequently the 
whole parish is covered with snow during eight or nine 
months of the year. The harvests are very uncertain, and 
the crops, at best, very scanty. Rye, potatoes, and maize, 
are the chief productions of the fields, or rather of the spots 
and patches which are cultivated amid the rocks. No fruit- 
trees, and but few walnuts and chesnuts are seen in this 



42 Dr. Gilly thinks it not improbable that this mountain received its name from 
Julius CcBsar. 



VALLEY OF ST. MARTIN. 325 

elevated region. And avalanches are frequent, and often 
very destructive. 

Amono; the heio^hts south of Prali, are twelve little lakes or 
ponds, which ar'^ Jormed by the melting of the snows on the 
Col de Julien. They are nearly on the route from Prali 
over to Bobi, in the valley of Luserne. 

The name of Prali, like those of Rodoret, Perrero, Basille, 
Yille Seche, and Pomaret, is intimately blended with the 
history of these valleys. It was here that Henri Arnaud, 
with his men, first halted, upon their return to their native 
land, in the year 1689. They spent their first Sabbath in 
the church at Guigot. ^ It was an affecting scene. The 
church had been converted into a Roman Catholic one during 
the three years in which the Waldenses were in exile. But 
soon all the memorials of an idolatrous worship were turned 
out of the sacred edifice — altar, pictures, statues, vase of 
holy water, etc. — and Arnaud, the warrior-pastor, standing 
in the door, preached to his troops, some of whom were in 
the church, and the others outside. There they lifted up 
their voices in praise and thanksgiving. The service was 
commenced by singing the seventy-fourth psalm, so admira- 
bly adapted to their circumstances. 

This entire region of the upper Germanesca is but too 
famous for the dreadful disasters which are occasioned by 
avalanches. On the 11th of March, 1832, eighteen men, 
natives of Prali, set out from Rodoret, in a snow-storm, to 
return to their homes. When they had nearly reached the 
end of their journey, they were overtaken by a tremendous 
avalanche, and thirteen of them were in an instant over- 



43 A ]\Tr. Leidet, who was pastor of the church at Guigot sometime previous to 
the events referred to in the text, was detected in singing a psalm beneath a rock, 
arrested, carried to Luserne, tried as a heretic, condemned to demh, and beheaded. 
He was sustained by his faith to the last, and died exclaiming: ' Into thy hands, a 
God, I commend my spirit.' 

28 



326 THE WALDENSES. 

whelmed by it. One was extricated before life became 
extinct ; but the other twelve were buried so deep that they 
could not be excavated for three days. The scene, when 
their bodies were carried to Prali, beggars all attempt at 
description. The little village was long clad in mourning. 
The only resource which the bereaved families possessed, 
was that of a religion which had caused their ancestors so 
nobly to endure a great ' fight of afflictions.^ 

VI. Valley of Angrogna. 

This may rightly be called the ' Holy Valley ' of the Wal- 
denses* To this central and most easily defended of all 
their valleys, they were often compelled to fly for shelter. 
Here was, at the hamlet of Pra del Tor, the ^ school of the 
prophets,' where their young men pursued such studies as the 
Church prescribed, to qualify them for the ministry. It was 
a rude theological seminary, it is true, but it was better than 
could be found any where else in the world, in those dark 
ages ; for there their young ministers were taught the ' truth 
as it is in Jesus.' 

This valley has almost no bottom land ; but the sides of the 
mountains, which bound it, furnish a good number of spots, 
some consisting of many acres, and many more of less than 
one, which are cultivated, and which produce good crops of 
wheat, rye, potatoes, flax, etc ; whilst on the sunny exposures, 
the vine is cultivated to some extent. When last in that 
country, we went up its whole length, and were exceedingly 
struck with its wonderful scenery. In many places there is 
scarcely room for a narrow, and very rough path to pass 
along between the mountain, and the foaming, roaring, torrent- 
river which flows through it, and joins the Felice below the 
village of La Tour. 

This valley is full of memorable places, to which we shall 



Valley of angrogna. 327 

refer again when we come to speak of the history of this 
people. 

In entering this valley, which one does almost immediately 
upon setting out from La Tour, one of the first places which 
interests a pious heart is the village of Chiabas, where stands 
the deserted and now dilapidated church, which not only the 
people of the lower end of this valley, but also the inhabit- 
ants of the commune of St. Jean were, for ages, forced to 
attend. Since the erection of the church in the village of 
St. Jean, this old church has been abandoned. But who can 
visit it without recalling to mind what scenes there took 
place ? Under what affecting circumstances the gospel was 
often preached within those old and sacred walls ! How many 
must have been the exhortations of venerated pastors to a 
faithful adherence to the gospel ! How many tears must 
have been shed here over slain friends, whose faces from 
time to time were missed, and who had fallen in persecution, 
or in war waged in behalf of all that was dear to their hearts 
in this world ! This church, and that of La Tour, were pe- 
culiarly exposed to such scenes, for they were the places of 
worship for the two lowland parishes, which were most of all 
exposed to the incursions of the enemy. Surely for nearly 
five hundred years, there could not have been long intervals, 
in which mournful occurrences of persecution, resulting in 
protracted imprisonment or death, or both, did not take place. 
We cannot but hope, that this old temple will be repaired, 
and reopened for the worship of God, for it is needed for the 
population in its vicinity. 

The only parish in this valley is called the parish of An- 
grogna, which contains two thousand seven hundred and 
thirty-seven inhabitants, of whom, two thousand one hundred 
and twenty-four are Protestants, and six hundred and thir- 
teen are Roman Catholics. The Protestants have two 



328 THE WALDENSES. 

churches, one in the hamlet of St. Laurent, the other higher 
up the valley at the hamlet of Serre. There are also two 
Catholic churches, one a little above St. Laurent, the other 
in the upper end of the valley. 

But the most interesting place in the valley is the beautiful 
grassy spot, called Pra del Tor, on the left bank of the river, 
at the distance of eight miles from La Tour, where, as we 
have said, during ages before the Reformation, the Wal- 
denses trained their young men for the ministry. From this 
sacred but rude institution, missionaries were sent forth, — 
to Calabria and to Apulia in Italy, to Bohemia in Germany, 
to England, — who scattered the seeds which ultimately, in 
the labors of Wickliffe, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague, 
prepared the way for the glorious Reformation. It was at 
this spot that the Waldensian Synod often met, for it was the 
Shiloh of the valleys. At present, however, not a vestige 
remains to indicate where the sacred college stood. But what 
is wonderful, there is a small Roman Catholic chapel there, 
which a bishop of Pignerol erected, with the hope that 
it would have a mighty influence to convert the people. But 
he was mistaken. The Waldenses have rather regarded it 
as a nuisance, a profanation of the holiest spot in all their 
valleys, 

VII. Concluding Remarks, 

We shall bring our notices of the physical character of 
these valleys to a close with a few general remarks. In 
another chapter, in which we shall speak of the present 
moral condition of that community, we shall have occasion to 
say all that is necessary respecting their mode of living, the 
nature of their houses, style of dress, their various pursuits, 
state of education, religion, and morals, and other questions 
which have relation to that subject. In the present, we 
have endeavored to confine ourselves to what belongs mainly 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 329 

to the geography of the countrj, including its population and 
its productions. 

From what we have stated, the reader has learned, if he 
did not know before, that the country occupied by the Wal- 
denses is a very small one. It is, in fact, not larger than 
most of the counties in New England, and some other por- 
tions of our country. Twenty-two miles by sixteen is cer- 
tainly its whole extent.^ 

In the second place, the population is too large for the 
nature of the country. This is a great evil. Twenty-six 
thousand inhabitants, or nearly one hundred souls to the 
square mile, are a great many for such a country. Nor is 
this evil likely to diminish. There is no probability that the 
Sardinian government will soon renounce its barbarous and 
unwise policy of hedging up these people, who are the best 
of its subjects in every point of view, within certain limits, as 
if they were wild beasts. 

It is true, that through improvements in their agricultural 
processes, such as more effectually irrigating the slopes of the 
mountains which can by any means be converted into culti- 
vatable ground, as well as the alluvial bottom lands in the 
valleys below, something has been done to increase the pro- 
ductiveness of this little country. Something more in the 
same line will be done, we are persuaded. In this respect, as 
well as in many others, the residence of Colonel Beckwith, 
of whom we shall have more to say hereafter, has been a 
great blessing to this people. Manufactures may, also, be 
introduced, to some extent. So that, in various ways, it may 
be possible to make this country capable of sustaining a 
greater population. Still, the scope for their increase is so 

44 Indeed, some of the earlier writers who treat of that country, represent it as 
only being twelve Roman miles in length, and ten in widtk. This is, undoubt- 
edly, an error. The estimate which we have given in the text is that made by Dr, 
Gilly, in his second work respecting the Waldenses. 

28* 



330 THE WALDENSES. 

obviously limited, that tliej will be ever pressed upon, and 
many will be compelled to emigrate to other lands to find the 
means of a livelihood. 

The reader cannot fail to be struck with the fact, that but 
a small portion of this country is susceptible of cultivation. 
Immense mountains cover by far the greater part of it, as we 
have already remarked, and leave but a small portion of the 
surface for the hand of man to till. 

Having taken this geographical survey of the country of 
the Waldenses, we are now prepared to enter upon their 
history. 



I 



CHAPTER III. 

HISTORY OF THE WALDENSES. 

We have said enough in relation to the antiquity of the 
Waldenses to establish, to a reasonable degree, the position 
that Christianity was early planted in the valleys which they 
occupy. Lying between the north part of Italy and the 
South of France, in which countries we have indubitable 
proof that the Truth was long maintained after it had been 
abandoned in almost all the rest of Christendom, nothing can 
be more probable than that they also should have adhered to 
the pure gospel, which they had either heard from apostles 
themselves, or from very early Christian missionaries. This 
supposition is abundantly sustained by the testimonies of both 
the friends and the enemies of these people. 

I. They belonged at first to the General Church. 

That they belonged to the general, or Catholic Church of 
Christ, during the first eight hundred years, is quite certain ; 
for the gross errors and superstitions which the papacy has 
introduced, though then gaining a practical entrance into 
many portions of Christendom, ^^ had not been approved by 
any Council, until that of Nice, convened by Pope Adrian, 
A. D. 792, sanctioned the worship of images. Even this 

45 It is remarkable, that almost all the great corruptions of Christianity arose in 
the East and spread gradually into the West. It was for dreadful departures from 
the Truth, that God in his righteous judgment permitted various enemies, and 
especially the Mohammedan Antichrist, to arise in that quarter to oppress the 
Church, as He did the northern barbarians, and ultimately the Roman Antichrist, to 
persecute her in the West. "" 



332 THE WALDENSES. 

innovation was earnestly resisted in the Council of Frankfort, 
held A. D. 794. At that Council the western churches 
tmade great opposition to this relic of Paganism, in which 
they had the powerful assistance of Charlemagne, who had 
sent the famous Claudius, a Spanish priest, to protest against 
.the monstrous heresy. 

About the year 815, Louis le Debonnaire, (or, as he is 
more commonly called by English authors, Louis the Meek,) 
a son of Charlemagne, appointed this same Claudius, or 
Claude, to the archiepiscopal see of Turin. The Valleys of 
the Waldenses were within the limits of this diocess ; and we 
may be sure that the activity and zeal of that great and good 
man, who has been called the ' Reformer of the ninth cen- 
tury,' would do all he could to encourage them in the main- 
tenance of that sound doctrine, from which he found so great 
a tendency to depart, in the then Christian world. We 
know well that Claude held and taught, that men ought not to 
run to KoME, for the pardon of their sins, nor have recourse 
to the Saints or their relics ; that the Church is not founded 
on St. Peter, much less upon the Pope, hut upon the doctrine 
of the Apostles ; that they ought not to worship Images, nor so 
much as have them in their Churches. All this, and much 
more, that proved his doctrines to be evangelical and Protest- 
ant, we know from Jonas of O^^leans, his great enemy, as 
well as from other sources, he both held and zealously propa- 
gated.^^ 

And we hav.e already seen that Rorenco, the Inquisitor, in 
the seventeenth century, after having had good opportunities 
for investigating this subject, asserts that the 'heresy,' as he 
*calls it, of the eighth century, by which he clearly means the 
doctrines of Claude, was held in the ninth and tenth centu- 



46 About the same time, or rather a little before, Paulinus, Bishop of Aquileia, 
(maintained and taught gimilar doctrines. 



ORIGINALLY CATHOLICS. 333 

ries, in the valleys of the "Waldenses. This brings us down 
almost to the days of Peter Waldo, the Lyonese merchant 
and Reformer. Upon the dispersion of his followers, and the 
retirement of their chief, first into Picardy, and thence into 
Bohemia, where he died, the pious band in the valley 
received a considerable accession to their numbers, from 
their country becoming an asylum to their persecuted breth- 
ren of Lyons. They received a still greater increase, when, 
in the first years of the century following, the Albigenses 
were rooted out of the south of France by the bloody cru- 
sades of Simon de Montfort. This brings us to the thir- 
teenth century, since which period there is history enough 
not only to prove that the Waldenses then existed in these 
valleys, but to make us know what were their doctrines, their 
manner of life, and their sufferings for the sake of Christ and 
his gospel. 

And even if it be not possible, owing to the loss of docu- 
ments, of which we know the Waldenses were deprived by 
their enemies, to fill up every gap which exists in their his- \/ /" 
tor J, what does it amount to ? There are great landmarks ' I 
enough, here and there, if we may so express ourselves, from 
which it is possible to ascertain that there was a ' Church in ^ 
the Wilderness ' of these valleys, from the early times of 
Christianity to the days of Peter Waldo, in the twelfth cen- 
tury — after which, history is abundant. Nor do these inter- 
vals ^ at all hinder the continual succession of those churches 
and that religion,' as Sir Samuel Morland well remarks, 
^ no more than those dark intervals which were in the Church 
before and after the Deluge ; those intervals of the Egyptian 
bondage, the Judges, the Babylonish captivity, and the like 
in after ages ; no more than the sun and moon do cease to be, 
when their light is eclipsed, or withdrawn from the eye by 
the interposition of other bodies ; no more than the river Po, 
the Rhone, or Guadiana in Spain, do lose their continual 






334 



THE WALDENSES. 



current, because for sometime they run under ground, or 
among the rocks, and appear not ; so for the Church of God, 
though sometimes it has not been so visible to the eyes of 
men, it hath notwithstanding continued in a constant, unin- 
terrupted succession, through all ages and generations. Thus 
the good prophet Elijah, in his days, thought he had been 
left alone^ but yet, God had reserved at that very time seven 
thousand souls of the very same principles and profession 
with himself.' ^ 

It has been well remarked by Leger, the historian of the 
Waldenses, that it would not be more absurd to doubt a 
man's descent from Adam, because he cannot point out his 
forefathers in each intervening generation, than to deny the 
apostolical origin of a pure Christian Church, because its 
separate succession from the Apostles cannot be established. 
And here, we may remark, is the true definition of apostoli- 
cat as applied to churches, namely, that they are 'pure. This 
is nothing more, after all, than the definition of Tertullian. ^ 

That the Waldenses were unmolested in their mountain 
retreats until the twelfth century, is easily accounted for. 
The popes did not succeed in overcoming the resistance of 
the bishops in the north of Italy — especially those of Milan, 
Aquileia, and Turin, — until the eleventh century. Until 
this was accomplished, they had not time to look after the 
poor followers of Christ, in the obscure valleys of the Alps. 
But circumstances soon occurred which led to the persecution 
of the Waldenses in the western valleys, in Dauphijiy and 
Provence, now constituent parts of France. The progress 
of the Truth through the labors of Peter Waldo, the rich 
merchant of Lyons, was one of the most prominent among 

47 History of the Evangelical Churches in the Valleys of Piedmont. By Samuel 
Morland, Esq., p. 13. 

48 Nascentes ex matricibus apostolicis deputantur ul soboles apostolicarum ec- 
clesiarura. 



PETER WALDO. 335 

the causes which led to a, persecution of the believers of the 
true gospel, which soon reached the Waldenses in the prov- 
nces just named, and ultimately fell upon those in Piedmont, 
where it raged, as we shall see, more than three hundred 
years. 

II. Peter Waldo and his followers. 

Various have been the opinions that have been entertained 
respecting the origin and name of this distinguished individ- 
ual, than whom few men have been instruments in God's 
hands of doing more good. But we think that that which 
Mr. Faber has given, in one of his late works, ^^ is decidedly 
the most plausible. We will state it in few words. 

He was born in the valleys of Piedmont or Dauphiny, and 
derives his cognomen from the fact that the country where 
he originated was called Waldis, Walden,. and Yaudra, by 
the authors who have given an account of him, of whom 
Reinerius is the most important authority ; hence his name 
of Waldo, or the Waldensian. In his youth he went to 
Lyons, where he rose to distinction, by reason of success in 
mercantile business. 

On a certain occasion, whilst in company with a number of 
the distinguished citizens, one of the company suddenly fell 
down dead. This solemn occurrence produced a great effect 
upon the mind of Peter, as did that of the loss of a friend by 
lightning, upon the mind of Luther. But Peter, owing to 
the religious instruction which he had received in his native 
valleys, instead of retiring, as Luther did, to a monastery, or 
of founding one with his great wealthy acted in just such a 
manner as one might expect from his origin. He consecrated 
his wealth to the service of God in the propagation of the 



49 Inquiry into the History and Theology of the Ancient VaUenses and AlbigenseSy 
pp. 450-496. 



336 THE WALDENSES. 

gospel. He became remarkably charitable to the poor ; he 
preached the gospel himself ; he caused the Scriptures to be 
translated into the language of the people ; and circulated 
many copies. These efforts were regarded with favor by the 
Great Head of the Church. His Spirit was poured out, and 
a great many souls were brought to the knowledge of the 
Truth. This enabled Peter to organize a goodly number 
into a band of missionaries, whom he sent forth to carry the 
gospel into all parts of France, into Flanders, Germany, 
Poland, Bohemia, Austria, and Hungary. In this way the 
Truth gained in a few years a wonderful extension. Peter 
himself, as De Thou informs us, leaving his own country, went 
into Belgium ; and in Picardy, as they 7iow call the province, 
oUained many followers. Passing thence into Germany ^ he 
long sojourned among the Vandalic States, and finally settled 
in Bohemia : where those, who, at the present day, embrace his 
doctrine, are, on that account, called Picards.^^ 

Here we see one of the most remarkable missionary move- 
ments that have ever occurred. These humble propagators of 
the gospel went forth two by two, supported at the outset by 
the contributions of the brethren at Lyons, but relying 
mainly on what they might obtain from those who might be 
willing to receive the truth from their lips. On account of 
their poverty, they were every where called the ' Poor Men 
of Lyons.' 

But soon the pope called on the archbishop of Lyons, to 
put down this ' heresy,' and the work of persecution forth- 
with began. Nor was it confined to these humble, but 
sincere Christians at Lyons; it soon began .to be directed 
against the Albigenses, a numerous body of Christians in the 
south of France, who were descended from the primitive 
stock, but who had been increased by the arrival of the 

fiO Historia, lib. vi. sec. 10, vol. i. p. 221. 



NUMBER. 337 

Paulicians, in the early part of the preceding century, as 
well as by the cooperating labors of the ^ Poor Men of 
Lyons.' That a goodly number of those, who escaped from 
the scenes of blood which ensued, took refuge among their 
fellow- Christians in the valleys of Dauphiny and Piedmont, 
there can be no doubt. 

III. Number of the Waldenses about this Period. 

We have no data for ascertaining the population of these 
valleys in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Those 
inhabited by the Waldenses were much more extensive than 
those they occupy now ; for not only had they the whole of 
the valley through which the Clusone runs, but they were 
also numerous in the Marquisate of Saluzzo, and in the 
region around Susa. And yet, owing to the denseness of the 
population, we find that a colony left these valleys in the year 
1370, and went into Calabria, where they cultivated waste 
lands, and founded the villages of La Vicaricio, La Gard, 
Montolieu, Les Pousses, Santo Sisto, St. Yicens, etc. There 
their descendants increased till they were several thousand in 
number. How that flourishing and happy colony was extir- 
pated, nearly two hundred years after its plantation, we stated 
in the first part of this work, in which we have treated of 
the rise, progress, and suppression of the Reformation in 
Italy. 

In the memoirs of Morel, written about the year 1530, the 
number of persons professing the Waldensian faith is stated 
at eight hundred thousand. But this estimate must include not 
only the Waldenses of Piedmont, and the Protestants in the 
Marquisate of Saluzzo and the province of Susa, but their 
brethren in Provence and Dauphiny, and those in the 
Pyrenees, if not those also in Bohemia, Poland, etc. In 
1501, it appears from the report of a commissioner appointed 
by the bishop of Embrun, to investigate charges against the 
29 



338 THE WALDENSES. 

Waldenses, that there were then fifty thousand in the diocesses 
of Embrun and Turin. In the treaty which Henry IV. 
made with the churches in the valleys, in the year 1592, it 
was stated that the proportion between the Protestants and 
the Roman Catholics, was a hundred to one. At present it 
is as five and a half to one. The population of the present 
valleys has decidedly increased within the last one hundred 
years. There could not have been more than eighteen or 
nineteen thousand souls in them, in the year 1655. Sir 
Samuel Morland tells us that there were fourteen churches 
at that time. There are now fifteen, and there are people 
enough for six or seven more* 

IV. Their Ancient Missionary Spirit, 

\ There was nothing more remarkable about the early "Wal- 
denses, than their missionary spirit. This, we have just said, 
characterized, in a particular degree, the followers of Peter 
Waldo. But the same spirit pervaded all the people of the 
\ same faith, wherever they lived, in those dark ages, and by 
\ whatever name they were called — Vaudois, Paulicians, 
/ Patarins, Cathari, Leonists, Lollards, Albigenses, Poor Men 
\of Lyons, etc. It was by sending out missionaries, two by 
two, on foot, to visit their brethren dispersed in France, the 
north of Spain, Flanders, England, Germany, Poland, 
Bohemia, Hungary, Croatia, Dalmatia, and Italy, that they 
kept alive the little piety which existed in the world at 
that day. These missionaries knew where to find their 
brethren; they went to their houses, held little meetings, 
administered the ordinances, ordained deacons, and sus- 
tained the faith and hopes of the tempted and persecuted 
ones. It is said that these missionaries could go, at one 
period, from Cologne to Florence, and stay every night at the 
houses of brethren. It is on account of the great number of 
missionaries which these little and poor churches in the 



MISSIONARY SPIRIT. 339 

valleys sustained, that we read of there being sometimes one 
hundred and forty or fifty ministers at the meetings of their 
synods. But few of these were needed at home ; the most 
were engaged in the foreign work. 

It is also remarkable that almost all the men whom God 
raised up from time to time, in France, and other countries, 
for more than six hundred years before the Reformation, seem 
to have had more or less to do with the Waldenses ; such 
as Peter Waldo, Peter Bruys, Henry of Lausanne, Lollard 
— who labored with so much zeal to diffuse the Truth in 
England, and who was burned at Cologne. 

But not only did preachers go out from the valleys to pro- 
claim the glorious gospel, but humble pious pedlers, or 
itinerating merchants, of whom there were many in the 
middle ages, scattered the truth by carrying some leaves of 
the Word of Life, or some manuscript tracts, beneath their 
merchandize, which they engaged those whom they found to 
be favorably disposed, to receive and read. 

The following beautiful verses, descriptive of this traffic 
of the Waldensian pedlers, were published in a valuable 
religious Journal, a few years ago.^ 

THE VAUDOIS MISSIONARY. 
I. 

0, lady fair, these silks of mine 

Are beautiful and rare — 
The richest web of the Indian loom 

Which beauty's self might wear. 
And these pearls are pure and mild to behold, 

And with radiant light they vie ; 
I have brought them with me a weary way : 

Will my gentle lady buy ? 

51 The London Christian Observer. 



340 THE WALDENSES. 



II. 

And the lady smiled on the worn old man, 

Through the dark and clustering curls 
Which veiled her brow as she bent to view 

His silk and glittering pearls ; 
And she placed their price in the old man's hand, 

And lightly turned away : 
But she paused at the wanderer's earnest call — 

' My gentle lady, stay ! ' 

III. 

' 0, lady fair, I have yet a gem 

"Which a purer lustre flings 
Than the diamond flash of the jewelled crown 

On the lofty brow of kings ; 
A wonderful pearl of exceeding price. 

Whose virtue shall not decay; 
Whose light shall be as a spell to thee, 

And a blessing on thy way 1 ' 

IV. 

The lady glanced at the mirroring steel, 

Where her youthful form was seen. 
Where her eyes shone clear and her dark locks waved 

Their clasping pearls between ; 

* Bring forth thy pearl of exceeding worth, 

Thou traveller gray and old ; 
And name the price of thy precious gem. 
And my pages shall count thy gold.' 

V. 

The cloud went off from the pilgrim's brow, 

As a small and meagre book 
Unchased with gold or diamond gem. 

From his folding robe he took : 

* Here, lady fair, is the pearl of price — 

May it prove as such to thee ! 
Nay, keep thy gold — I ask it not — 
For the Word of God is free.^ 



BEGINNING OF PERSECUTION. 341 



TI. 

The hoary traveller went his way — 

But the gift he left behind 
Hath had its pure and perfect work 

On that high-bom maiden's mind ; 
And she hath turned from her pride of sin 

To the lowliness of truth, 
And given her human heart to God 

In its beautiful hour of youth. 

VII. 

And she hath left the old gray walls 

Where an evil faith hath power, 
The courtly knights of her father's train, 

And the maidens of her bower; 
And she hath gone to the Yaudois vale. 

By lordly feet untrod, 
Where the poor and needy of earth are rich 

In the perfect love of God ! 



V. Beginning of Persecution in the Valleys. 

And soon persecution began to be directed to these moun- 
tain fastnesses, and especially to those of Dauphiny. As to 
the valleys of Piedmont, the political state of things in that 
country retarded any very open and extended efforts to 
destroy the Christians who inhabited them until the fifteenth 
century. For it was not till then that the dukes of Savoy 
felt assured in tbe possession of them. ^^ 

52 The Valleys of the Waldenses were originally part of the Marquisate of Susaor 
the Duchy of Turin, both of which were fiefs of the German empire, and vested, in 
the early part of the eleventh century, in the person of Adelaide, widow of Herman, 
Duke of Suabia. About the year 1038, this princess was married to Oddon, Count of 
Savoy and Maurienne. Upon her decease, in the year 1091, her grandson, Humbert 
II., of Savoy, claimed the possession of her territories. But his claim was disputed 
by other issue of Adelaide, and the metropolitans of Turin, down to the year 1252 ; 
when the right was established by a formal grant of these fiefs, with many others, 
from the Emperor William, in favor of Thomas II., descendant of Oddon. But the 

29* 



342 THE WALDENSES. 

But at length the pope prevailed on the dukes of Savoy 
to suffer the work of exterminating ' heresy,' in the valleys 
of their Italian possessions, to be attempted. And then the 
storm began to arise. At first, it was like the sprinkling of 
heavy drops which are but the precursors of the tremendous 
tempest which is to sweep over the land. The Waldenses 
were seized and imprisoned when they dared to issue from 
their native country, and descend into the plain, no matter 
for what purpose. The prisons of Pignerol, Saluzzo, Susa, 
and Turin, were, from time to time, filled with heretics. 
Inquisitors pervaded the valleys to find out the abodes of 
those who were most obnoxious to the wrath of Rome. This 
work went on, both sides of the Alps, but most in Dauphiny. 

But soon this guerrilla persecution, if we may so call it, 
was succeeded, or rather aided, — for it was long afterwards 
prosecuted — by open war ; the dukes of Savoy furnishing the 
-armies needed, upon the demand of the pope's legates. The 
first notable onset was made on Christmas, A. D. 1400, 
when an armed force of Roman Catholics from Susa invaded 
the valley of Pragela, then occupied wholly by the Walden- 
ses, and fell unexpectedly on the peaceable inhabitants. 
Many were slain on the spot. All that could, fled to the 
Albergean, a high mountain which separates the valley of 
Pragela from that of St. Martin. Among the wretched be- 
ings who were seen clambering up the mountain-side amid 
the deep snow, were mothers carrying their infant children 
in cradles on their backs, and leading those of greater age, 
who were able to walk. But when arrived at the summit, 
exhausted with fatigue, and having no means of creating a 
fire to relieve themselves from the piercing cold, most of 
them became quite benumbed during the night ; and when 



Marquess of Montserrat contested the possession of the country till the 15th century. 
— Guichenon's Histoire Gendalogique de la Maison Royale de Savoie^ vol. i. p. 197, et 
seq. — quoted by Acland^ in his translation of the Glorieuse Rentrce^ pp. li, lii. 



t 



CRUSADE AGAINST THE WALDENSES. 34 

the morning came, it found not fewer than eighty infants 
dead in their cradles, and their mothers stretched by their 
side in a dying state ! This was among the first of Eome's 
efforts to convert these poor people, by force, to her Faith. 

VI. Crusades against the Waldenses commenced. 

But it was not till the year 1487 that the regular crusades 
were commenced against the Waldenses. This year, Albert 
de Capitaneis, the nuncio of Pope Innocent VIIL, persuaded 
the King of France, the Duke of Savoy, and other neighbor- 
ing princes to undertake the extirpation of the ' heretics.' 
Accordingly, an army of twenty -four thousand men, having 
been drawn together, the country was invaded from several 
quarters at one and the same time. The principal attack 
was directed against the valley of Angrogna, as being the 
strong-hold, whither many of the inhabitants had retired. 
But the leader of the force, which was sent against them, 
having marched far up the valley was met, just below Pra 
del Tor, in a narrow defile, by the Waldenses. At the out- 
set of the battle he was killed by a stone hurled by a slinger 
who stood on a rock on the opposite side of the river, and his 
men were soon driven back with an overwhelming defeat. 
A great many were crushed by masses of rocks rolled down 
upon them, or were dashed into the impetuous torrent be- 
low. The attacks on other valleys were also unsuccessful ; 
and the Duke, a year or two afterwards, was heartily dis- 
posed to terminate a war in which he had gained nothing but 
loss and disgrace. He therefore invited the inhabitants to 
send deputies to him at Pignerol, with whom he made a peace, 
in w^hich he confirmed their former privileges, declaring that 
the inhabitants of these valleys \yere the best, the most faith- 
ful, and most obedient subjects which he had. As he had 
been told that the children of these people were born with 
one eye, in the middle of the forehead, like that of a Cyclops, 



344 THE WALDENSES. 

and had four rows of black teeth, he desired to have some of 
them brought to him, that he might ascertain whether the 
report was true or not. From this instance we may form 
some opinion of the ridiculous stories which were circulated 
respecting these excellent but detested people. 

About this time the marchioness of Saluzzo, — a territory- 
south of that of the Waldenses, and not at that time under 
the dominion of Savoy, — instigated by the Inquisitors, ex- 
pelled the Waldenses from her territories. But having 
found a retreat in the valley of Luserne, they there armed 
themselves, returned, took possession of their former abodes, 
and remained in the unmolested enjoyment of them for 
nearly a century longer. 

VII. Second Crusade against the Waldenses, 

Shortly after the death of the above-mentioned duke of 
Savoy, Philip YII., his son and successor, Charles, was im- 
portuned by the Archbishop of Turin and the Inquisitors, to 
make another crusade against the dwellers in the valleys. 
To accomplish the task, Pantaleon Bressour, lord of Roche- 
plate, was sent with an army of fifteen hundred chosen men. 
At the outset he destroyed every thing before him, and 
allowed his men to commit horrid barbarities. But the 
second day of the campaign he was completely routed in the 
valley of Luserne, where he was suddenly attacked on all 
sides by the Waldensian slingers. After this he contented 
himself with ravaging the lower parishes, which extend into 
the plain country, or, rather, border upon it. In this way he 
carried off much booty, and filled the prisons and monasteries 
at Pignerol, and the Inquisition at Turin, with captives, many 
of whom died in prison, and some were burned alive — suf- 
fering death with the heroism of Christian martyrs. The 
Duke, finding this war an unprofitable business, soon after- 
wards put an end to it. Nor can we help approving of this 



VALLEYS UNDER THE GOVERNMENT OF FRANCE. 345 

determination, if the remark which is attributed to him be 
true, namely, ' that the skin of a Waldensian always cost 
fifteen or twenty of his best Catholics.' 

VIII. The Valleys come under the Government of France. 

In the year 1536, the events of war produced a change of 
masters, but brought no solace to the griefs of the Wal- 
denses. Francis I., who had conquered Piedmont, replied to 
their humble supplication for toleration, — ^ that he did not 
burn heretics in France, to endure them in the Alps.' ^ 

During the twenty-three years that France possessed these 
valleys, there was no open persecution of their poor inhabi- 
tants, but the Inquisitors were all the while seizing whom 
they could, and dragging them to Turin, where many were 
condemned to the flames. Their sufferings are said to have 
affected the Catholic population of that city, who witnessed 
them, to tears, and caused them to exclaim in loud terms 
against such cruelty. At this time, a shocking persecution 
was going on, on the other side of the Alps, in Provence and 
Dauphiny ; for Francis I. had none of the noble spirit of 
Louis XIL, who, when urged to persecute his newly acquired 
subjects in Dauphiny, had the justice to inquire what sort of 
people the Waldenses were, whose extermination was de- 
manded by Rome. And when he learned what was the 
truth respecting them, he declared to his attendants, — ' they 
are better Christians than we are^ and refused to let them be 
disturbed. Francis I. and his son, Henry II., were men of a 
very different character from him who was justly called the 
Father of his people. 

It was during this interval of comparative rest, that the 
Waldenses applied themselves to the erecting of churches. 
Previously to this, they had been accustomed to_ assemble for 

53 Qu'il ne faisait pas bruler les hereliques en France pour les supporter parmi 
les Alpes. 



346 THE WALDENSES. 

public worship at the preshyteres, or houses of their pastors. 
It was during this period, also, that they caused a translation 
of the Bible, made by Robert Olivetan, one of their pastors, 
to be printed at Neuchatel, at an expense of fifteen hundred 
crowns in gold. This was, we believe, the first translation of 
the Bible made in French. The study of this sacred volume, 
wherever it was possessed by the people, did much to fortify 
them in their adherence to the truth, and to prepare them for 
the trials which might yet await them. Yast numbers of the 
copies of this Bible were burned, however, by the Roman 
Catholics, during the subsequent persecutions. 

IX. Persecution renewed hy Emanuel Philihert. 

At length Piedmont reverted to Savoy, and with it the 
valleys inhabited by the Waldenses. Under the reign of 
their native prince, Emanuel Philibert, they hoped to enjoy 
peace and protection, inasmuch as his duchess, Margaret of 
France, was known to be favorable to their interests. But 
papal influence soon triumphed again at the court of Savoy, 
and an edict, dated at Nice, 1560, authorized another crusade 
against these unoffending people. To their humble petitions 
for freedom from molestation, presented to him under the 
auspices of certain of the nobility, the duke gave no favorable 
reply. In these appalling circumstances, they appointed a 
solemn fast. After this they carried their wives, children, 
and aged and infirm people, together with most of their 
goods, to places of security in the higher valleys, and pre- 
pared to defend themselves to the uttermost. And it may be 
stated as a fact which reflects the highest honor upon their 
character, that such was the confidence reposed in them by 
their Catholic neighbors, that on the appearance of the 
duke's army, they committed their wives and daughters to 
their safe keeping in those elevated retreats. And what a 



PERSECUTION RENEWED BY EMANUEL PHILIBERT. 347 

reflection on the character of the soldiers and officers of the 
Savoyards, that this was done to avoid their brutality ! 

A large force soon entered the valleys, under the com- 
mand of the Count de la Trinite, who set about the work of 
ravaging the country. But he was worsted in almost every 
engagement, and compelled to retire into the plain below. 
With the return of spring, he renewed the attack ; but 
suffered a shameful loss at Yillar, where the Waldenses 
stormed a newly-erected fort. Driven to madness, the count 
invaded the valley of Angrogna the day following, with eight 
thousand chosen men, determined to expel the Waldenses 
from Pra del Tor, a small plain or basin, in the heart of the 
mountains, whence they had never yet been driven. But 
after four days hard fighting, and the loss of ten officers and 
four hundred privates left on the ground, he was compelled 
to retreat. A second attempt was attended with still more 
disastrous results ; for the Waldenses attacked him, in turn, 
and pursued the fugitives through the rough and narrow 
valley of Angrogna, where the mountain-torrent and the 
precipice proved almost as destructive as the sword and the 
descending rock. 

At last, the duke grew tired of the war, and through the 
mediation of his duchess, Margaret, terms of peace, with 
conditions eminently favorable to liberty of conscience, were 
offered to the Waldenses, and accepted. 

Yet four years scarcely passed away before this same 
prince published an edict, ordering, ' that all who did not, 
within ten days, pledge themselves, in the presence of a 
magistrate, to attend on mass, should, within two months, 
expatriate themselves.' But the execution of this edict was 
arrested by the energetic interference of some of the German 
Protestant princes, especially the Duke of Saxony and the 
Elector of the Palatinate. 



348 THE WALDENSES. 

X. The State of things grows worse. 

Every year seemed to develope more and more the hatred 
of the Roman Catholics towards these poor people. The 
limits of the country were continually restricted; sudden 
attacks, made upon them by their neighbors, for the sake of 
pillage, were permitted, if not authorized; great numbers 
were thrown into prison ; and the goods of many were con- 
fiscated. And when Henry IV., of France, gave up the 
Marquisate of Saluzzo, in exchange for some territory near 
to Geneva, eight Waldensian congregations were dispersed, 
or compelled to flee to other lands, by order of Charles 
Emanuel, duke of Savoy, and every vestige of their religion 
was extirpated from this newly acquired territory. 

About this time, Protestant schools and colleges were sup- 
pressed in the valleys, and the inhabitants forbidden to send 
their children abroad for education, under severe penalties. 
Roman Catholic convents were opened in their midst ; and 
the abduction of their children, for the purpose of conversion, 
was permitted, if not sanctioned by law.^* Yet there were 
brief seasons, when these oppressed people were treated with 
some degree of favor, as in 1603, when, through the influence 
of the count of Luserne, they were allowed to enjoy the free 
exercise of their religion within their valleys, to trade with 
the Catholics, and to fill oflicial situations. The first instance 
on record of the interposition of England in their behalf, was 
in the year 1627, when an extraordinary ambassador arrived 
at Turin, and interceded successfully. Two years later, 
another envoy, from Great Britain, did the same thing. 
From this time till the death of Victor Amadeus I., in 1627, 
the valleys enjoyed almost uninterrupted peace. 



54 Boys might be carried away if under twelve years of age, and girls, if under 
sixteen ! 



HORRIBLE PERSECUTION. 349 

After tlie death of that prince, Rome renewed her influ- 
ence upon the court of Savoy, to work the ruin of the Wal- 
denses. About the year 1650, a congregation or society was 
organized at Turin, in imitation of the Propaganda at Rome, 
which employed all its resources to accomplish this objects- 
Even a society of noble ladies was organized, for the purpose 
of employing female influence to bring about this end. These 
ladies sent spies into the valleys, to sow discord in private 
families ; they visited the prisons and dungeons to make 
converts of the Waldenses who were there ; and labored in 
other ways to proselyte the people to Rome. But it was all 
in vain ; their success bore no proportion to their pains. 

XL The horrible Persecution of 165o. 

But at length a greater storm than any that had preceded 
it, burst upon the devoted heads of these people. On the 
17th of April, 1655, an army of fifteen thousand Piedmontese, 
four regiments of French soldiers, a German corps, and one 
thousand two hundred Irish, entered the valleys, under the 
command of the Marquis of Pianessa. Though repulsed at 
first, the marquis gained possession, by stratagem, of St. Jean, 
La Tour, Yillar, Bobi, the village of Angrogna, and all the 
other points which were not in the highest portions of the 
country. Then, upon a signal being given from the crag of 
Castelluzza, near La Tour, such scenes of blood as this world 
has not often witnessed in modern times, among nations which 
pretend to be Christian, began on the twenty-fourth of that 
month to be enacted. Indeed, when we read the minute 
account of it, which Leger and Sir Samuel Morland have 
given, accompanied with engravings illustrating the horrid 
acts of barbarity and wickedness which were committed, we 
are tempted to believe that the work was not done by human 
beings, but by demons fresh from the infernal pit. 

Houses and churches were burned to the ground. Infants 
30 



850 THE WALDENSES. 

were remorselessly torn from the breasts of their mothers, and 
dashed against the walls or the rocks, or had their brains 
dashed out against each other ; or two soldiers, taking each a 
leg, rent them asmider, or cut them in two with their swords. 
The sick were either burned alive, cut in pieces, or thrown 
down the precipices with their heads tied between their legs. 
Mothers and daughters were violated in each other's pres- 
ence, impaled, and either carried naked as ensigns upon 
pikes at the head of the regiments, or left upon poles by the 
road-side. Others had their arms and breasts cut oif. Men, 
after being indecently and barbarously mutilated, were cut 
up limb by limb, as butchers cut up meat in the shambles ; 
they had gunpowder thrust into their mouths and other parts 
of their bodies, and then were blown up. Multitudes had their 
noses, fingers, and toes amputated, and then left to perish in 
the snow.^^ Some, both men and women, were buried alive. 
Some were dragged by the hair on the ground at the tail of 
a mule. Numbers were cast into a burning furnace. Young 
women fled from their pursuers, and leaped down precipices, 
and were killed, rather than submit to their brutal violence. 
That these things occurred, we have in proof the depositions 
of more than one hundred and fifty witnesses, taken in the 
presence of notaries-public, and of the consistories of the 
different localities. Morland and Leger give all the details, 
with the names of the men and women who suffered the 
greatest cruelty, as well as the depositions of the witnesses. 

XII. Effect upon Protestant Europe, 

As soon as it was practicable, the moderator of the synod, 
the celebrated historian Leger, called together the principal 
persons who had escaped, drew up a statement of the par- 
ticulars, and forwarded it to all the Protestant states of Eu- 



65 Dr. Henderson's Vaudoisy pp. 21, 22. 



b 



EFFECT UPON PROTESTANT EUROPE. 351 

rope. The effect was instantaneous and tremendous. Re- 
monstrances came from all of them in quick succession, and 
envoys were sent from several of them to put an end to this 
bloody affair by negotiation. Of these, one of the most ener- 
getic was Sir Samuel Morland, Cromwell's envoy, who ad- 
dressed the duke of Savoy in presence of his mother, in 
language of extraordinary boldness. His concluding words 
were : - — ^ In the mean time the angels are seized with hor- 
ror ! Men are amazed ! Heaven itself is astonished with the 
cries of dying men ! The earth blushes, being discolored 
with the blood of so many innocent persons. Do not thou, 
O most high God ! do not thou take that revenge which is 
due to such aggravated wickedness and horrible villany. 
Let thy blood, O Christ ! wash away the stain of this blood I ' 
It was upon this occasion, that Milton, who was Crom- 
well's secretary, wrote the following inimitable sonnet, so 
well known, and so universally admired : — 

' Avenge, Lord ! thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 
Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ; 
Even them, who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones, 

Forget not : in thy book record their groans, 
Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold. 
Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled 
Mother with infant down the rocks. The moans 
The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 
O'er all the Italian fields, where still doth sway 

The triple tyrant ; that from these may grow 
A hundred fold, who, having learned thy way, 
Early may fly the Babylonian woe.' 

But before the arrival of the envoys from the Protestant 
countries, the Waldenses were compelled to fight many bat- 
tles in the valleys of Rora and Luserne, in particular. In 



852 THE WALDENSES. 

these, Jahier and Janavel greatly distinguished themselves, 
as we have already stated. But at length the former was 
killed, and the latter severely wounded. At that juncture 
the ambassadors came, and by their effective interference ^ 
a treaty of peace was concluded, on the eighteenth of August, 
by which the Waldenses were reinstated in all their former 
possessions, with the exception of Luserne, Lusernette, Fenil, 
Campillon, Bubiana, and Briqueras. 

To relieve the wants of the Waldenses, whose circumstances 
were for a long time most distressing, after the war was 
over, liberal contributions were made in their behalf in En- 
gland, Holland, Switzerland, and other Protestant countries. 
As for Cromwell, then Protector, he not only appointed a 
day of special humiliation and prayer, but ordered collections 
to be made in all the churches and chapels, throughout En- 
gland, Scotland, and Ireland, for their relief. This collection 
amounted to £38,241 10s, 6d., of which £21,908 Sd. were 
remitted in the course of the two following years and a half. 
Cromwell himself gave £2,000, and employed Milton to 
write letters in his name to the kings of France, Sweden, and 
Denmark, to the United Provinces, the Swiss Cantons, the 
elector of Brandenburg, the landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, the 
prince of Transylvania, and other powers, imploring their aid 
in behalf of the suiFering Waldenses. The replies which he 
received express the deepest abhorrence of the bloody deed 
which had been done in the valleys, and a forwardness to 
come to their assistance. They are to be found in Morland's 
work relating to the Waldenses. ^"^ 

As to the sum of £ 16,333, IO5. 3d, which Cromwell had 



56 So earnest was Cromwell in this affair, that he is reported to have declared to 
the duke of Savoy, that if he did not discontinue his persecutions, he would cause a 
fleet to sail over the Alps to defend the Waldenses. Authentic Details of the Wal- 
denses, p. 217. Dr. Henderson's Vaitdois, p. 25. 

57 Dr. Henderson's Vaudois, pp. 25, 26. 



DEPLORABLE CONDITION. 353 

put into the hands of the government to form a fund for the 
future aid of the Waldenses, Charles II., to his everlasting 
disgrace, appropriated it to the gratification of his mis- 
tresses, and said, when interrogated about the matter, that he 
was under no obligation to pay the debts of a usurper ! The 
English government, it will be seen in another chapter, has 
not been unmindful of its duty in respect to this subject, but 
has effectually obliterated the infamy which a worthless 
Stuart had brought upon it. 

XIII. The State of the Waldenses continues deplorahle. 

It must be admitted, however, that the spirited interfer- 
ence of Cromwell and other Protestant rulers did not ac- 
complish all that one might have expected from it. The ex- 
cellent Leger was banished from valleys to which he had 
rendered so much service. ^ Qt is my unhappiness,' says Sir 
Samuel Morland, at the conclusion of his work, ' to leave them 
where I found them, among the potsherds, with sackcloth and 
a^hes spread under them. To this very day they labor under 
heavy burdens, which are laid on their shoulders by those 
rigid taskmasters of the Church of Rome. To this very day 
do the enemies of the Truth plough and make furrows upon 
their hacks, by robbing them of their goods and estates ; by 
banishing their ministers, who were the shepherds of the 
flock, that the wolves may the better come in and devour 
them; by ravishing their young women and maidens; by 
murdering many innocent souls; by cruel mockings and 
revilings ; by continual menaces of another massacre — what 
shall I say ? Those very valleys which they inhabit are no 
other than a prison or dungeon, to which the port at La Tour 
serves as a door. To all this I must add that, notwithstand- 
ing those large supplies which have been sent them from 

58 He died in Germany, at the advanced age of eighty. 

30* 



354 THE AYALDENSES. 

England or foreign states, yet so great is the number of 
hungry creatures, and so grievous the oppressions of their 
popish enemies, who lie in wait to bereave them of whatso- 
ever is given them, and snatch at every morsel of meat that 
goes into their mouths, that verily ever and anon they are 
ready to eat their flesh for want of bread. The tongue of 
the suckling cleaves to the roof of its mouth, and the young 
children ask bread and no man gives it to them. The young 
and the old lie on the ground in the streets. Their miseries 
are more sad and grievous than words can express — they 
are in a manner dying whilst they yet live ; no grapes in 
their vineyards ; no cattle in their fields ; no herds in their 
stalls ; no corn in their garners ; no meal in their barrel ; no 
oil in their cruse.' 

Strong and glowing as is this description of the ardent 
young republican, it is but too well supported by the facts 
which Leger has detailed in his admirable history. 

The oppression which followed was dreadful. Cromwell 

lived only long enough to appeal again to the Protestant 

princes, and to remonstrate with the duke of Savoy for his 

perfidiousness. Soon after his death the poor Waldenses 

were compelled to take up arms again. A large army under 

the command of the Marquis de Fleuri, entered the valleys 

in the year 1663. The war lasted fourteen months, and was 

marked, as usual, on one side by treachery and atrocity, and 

on the other by heroic courage and devotion. At length the 

,) duke was glad to make peace ; which he did under the pre- 

^ tence of yielding to the remonstrances of the Protestant 

- powers. 

,; XIV. Last and most dreadful War, 

ij Twenty years more of oppression and suffering passed 

away, and then came the most horrible of all the thirty -three 
wars which this people, from first to last, were called to en- 



THE LAST WAR. 355 

counter for the sake of their religion. Louis XIV., having 
annihilated Protestantism in France, as he supposed, and 
revoked the edict of Nantz, as being no longer needed, signi- 
fied his wish that his example might be followed by his 
neighbor, the duke of Savoy. At that time, Victor Ama- 
deus II., was on the ducal throne ; a young man who seems 
to have been better disposed towards the inhabitants of the 
valleys than most of his predecessors. At first he declined 
to comply with the request of the French monarch. But 
when the ambassador of Louis XIV. intimated to him that 
his master would himself undertake the expulsion of the 
Waldenses, and keep their valleys as a reward for his 
trouble, the duke became alarmed and set about the task. 

An edict was accordingly issued, calling upon the inhabit- 
ants of the valleys to abandon their religion, raze their 
churches, give up their children to be baptized and instructed 
by the Roman Catholic priests, send away their pastors and 
schoolmasters, etc. — in a word, to become wholly papists. 
All remonstrance was in vain. They must yield obedience, 
or suffer the consequences. The former alternative was out 
of the question. Astonished at their determination to resist 
his order, the duke accepted the offer of a large auxiliary 
force from the king of France, commanded by De Catinat. 
And on the 23d of April, 1686, the French troops attacked the 
Waldenses at St. Germain, but met with a shameful repulse. 
The next day the duke's forces were defeated on the heights 
of Angrogna. The war having thus auspiciously commenced, 
it is unaccountable that the Waldenses, through fear, or some 
other cause, on the third day agreed to lay down their arms. 
This fatal mistake they discovered when it was too late. 
Fourteen thousand of them were thrown into thirteen prisons 
in Piedmont, in which, in the course of a few months, no less 
than eleven thousand died, from hunger, cold, thirst, or other 
causes. Two thousand children were carried away by the 



356 THE WALDENSES. 

Catholics, to be brought up in their faith. The valleys, with 
all the goods of these unfortunate people, were given up to 
the Roman Catholics. And the three thousand who survived 
were allowed to retire to the Protestant cantons of Switzer- 
land, which had sent to intercede in their behalf and offer 
them an asylum. They crossed Mount Cenis in the month 
of December, and arrived at the city of Geneva about Christ- 
mas. Here they were received with the greatest kindness 
by the inhabitants of the city of Calvin, many of whom came 
to meet them at the frontier, and escorted the poor, wretched 
exiles, who resembled skeletons rather than Kving men, to 
their houses, entertained them for days, clothed them, and 
conducted them on their way to the Swiss Cantons. ^^ 

The Swiss received them with great affection, and did the 
best they could to make them happy. They were distributed 
chiefly in the canton of Berne, which was then, as she is 
now, by far the most powerful of the entire confederacy. It 
was not long, however, till these exiles, recruited and 
reassured, began to think of their deserted abodes in the 
valleys. Nor did they fail to make attempts to return. But 
the first two were abortive. These attempts led the Bernese, 
through fear of France and Savoy, to beg them to go into 
Germany, where they were colonized in Baden, Hesse 
Darmstadt, Brandenburg, and other parts. But they were 
not long there, before a war breaking out between France 
and the elector Palatine, they returned to Switzerland, for 
fear of falling into the hands of Louis XIV. During the 
time of their temporary settlement in Germany, the States- 
General of Holland offered them lands at the Cape of Good 
Hope, and appropriated the sum of thirty-nine thousand 
livres, to transport such of them as might be willing to go 
thither. 

69 Geneva was not a part of Switzerland at that time. 



RETURN TO THEIR YALLETS. 357 



XV. Their Glorious Return to their Valleys, 

Encouraged, and secretly aided even, by the prince of 
Orange, who, in the midst of these events, became king of 
England, under the title of William III., the Waldenses 
made a third and successful attempt to return to their native 
land. Between eight and nine hundred men, not very well 
armed, assembled on the northern side of the lake, a few 
miles above the city of Geneva, there crossed over during the 
night of the 16th of August, 1689, and landed in Savoy be- 
tween Nernier and Yvoire. The next day they set out in 
the direction of Mont Blanc, ascending in their way the val- 
ley of the Arve. Henri Arnaud, who had studied for the 
ministry, but had not been able to enter the sacred office, 
owing to the troubles of the times, acted as their leader. 
And certainly he showed by his subsequent actions, that he 
was abundantly qualified for the task. He had received an 
appointment to a captaincy in the army of the prince of 
Orange, just before this movement took place. 

The limits of this work will not permit us to go into the 
details of their wonderful march through the Alps, till they 
arrived in their own country, which was effected with a loss 
that was wholly inconsiderable. This they were enabled to 
do, by seizing, as they went along, a number of persons of 
distinction, from time to time, and threatening to kill them, if 
the Savoyards did not let them pass unmolested. In this 
way, and by paying for whatever they obtained in the shape 
of food and drink, on the route, they got along better than 
one would be ready to anticipate. One severe action only 
they had to light at a bridge, over the river Dora, above 
Susa, at a village called Salabertran. There they found 
two thousand ^yq hundred French posted on the opposite 
side, under the command of the Marquis de Larrey. This 
bridge they carried by a furious onset, and soon fought hand 



35S ' THE WALDENSES. 

to hand with their enemies on the other side. The French 
were completely routed, with a loss of six hundred men; 
whilst the Waldenses lost but fifteen killed, and twelve 
wounded. After this thej reached their country without 
meeting any opposition worthy of mention. They crossed 
the Col du Pis and the Col de Damian, and descended into 
the valley of St. Martin, and reached Macel on the night of 
the 27th of August. The next day they marched to Prali, 
where they spent the first Sabbath in their native land, and 
where Arnaud preached under circumstances which we have 
already related. 

But soon their enemies pursued them into these valleys, 
and skirmish after skirmish took place — at one time in the 
valley of Luserne, at another in the valley of Angrogna, and 
at another in that of St. Martin. They were greatly in 
danger of starving during the winter ; but they found wheat 
and chestnuts lying under the snow, which had fallen that 
year, in the good providence of God, much earlier than is 
usual. The most famous of all their actions was the siege 
which they sustained for months, at Balsi, a steep mass of 
rocks, rising by three terraces, above the two torrents which 
meet just beneath, and which stands in the angle which they 
make. This place could only be approached by ascending 
the river, and this was extremely difficult. And when this 
was done, it could only be attacked by cannon. At last, their 
enemies, who were ten thousand French and twelve thousand 
Savoyards, — but who could not all, however, have been 
concentrated at that spot, though a great force was — suc- 
ceeded in compelling them to abandon the place. This they 
did by crossing over a ravine of great depth, in the rear, 
under the conduct of a native of that region, who knew well 
the locality. It was an amazing exploit, which utterly con- 
founded their enemies. 

But what need is there of words ? They made their way 



ANALOGIES IN THEIR HISTORY. 359 

bj Prali again, to the valley of Angrogna, where, to their 
verj great joy, they met envoys from the Baron de Palavi- 
cino, who had come to announce to them peace upon the part 
of the duke of Savoy. In the wonderful providence of God, 
a rupture had just occurred between Savoy and France, so 
that the alliance which had been the cause of this calamitous 
war was at an end, and the Waldenses were saved. The 
duke seemed to be sensible that he had done wrong, and was 
disposed to do all that he could to assure them of his good-will. 
They were now restored to their native valleys, and cheerfully 
went to work to cultivate their little farms, and tried, in the 
joys of the present, to forget the sorrows of the past. And 
no sooner did the duke of Savoy ask their assistance, in the 
long war which he was compelled to carry on against the 
French, than they cheerfully rendered it. And such were 
their bravery and fidelity, that not only did they often gain 
the applause of their native prince, ^ but also that of Prince 
Eugene, who came with a powerful force, to compel the 
French to raise the siege of Turin, and to quit Piedmont. 

XYI. Striking Analogies in their History. 

Several authors have remarked upon the striking analogy 
between the events just related and the conquest of the Jews 
by Antiochus Epiphanes ; its cause — their attachment to 
the true religion — their expulsion from their country — 
' many of the Jews went down into the wilderness to dwell 
there ' — their return and recovery of their land under the 
conduct of the Maccabees. It is a striking coincidence that in 
both cases the term of the ' abomination of desolation ' was 
precisely the same — three years and a half. The aim was 
the same — the enforcement of a base idolatry upon simple- 

60 It was in the year 1706, that Victor Amadeus II., the duke above spoken of, was 
compelled to seek a refuge among the "Waldenses in the valley of Rosa, as we have 
already stated, whilst Turin was besieged by the French. 



360 THE WALDENSES. 

hearted worshippers of the true God. And the same 
infernal spirit actuated the enemies of God and his people 
in both cases. 

Other writers have discovered in the conquest of these 
valleys by the Roman Catholic rulers of France and Savoy, 
and, in the banishment of the handful of survivors, the fulfil- 
ment of the prophecy in the Apocalypse, respecting the slaying 
of the two witnesses who had long prophesied in sackcloth, 
and their death during three days and a half. The parallel is 
very striking. Nor is it a valid objection, to our minds, that 
the Waldenses were but one people at that time, for it is 
very certain that a large portion of them were descended 
from the Albigenses, who took refuge among them after the 
destruction of that branch of the witnesses for the truth in 
the thirteenth century. It is much more difficult, however, 
to make it appear that the Waldenses could have been 
typified by the witnesses who prophesied in sackcloth during 
a period of twelve hundred and sixty years, for this would 
carry us back to A. D. 426, when papal oppression had not 
commenced, though the reign of gross error and superstition 
undoubtedly had. 

XVII. Unworthy Conduct of Victor Amadeus at the last. 

After what has been said of the gallant services which 
they rendered to the very prince who had persecuted them 
so much, and after having been treated by him for years with 
kindness, one might suppose that the Waldenses would have 
enjoyed tranquillity at least during the remainder of that 
prince's reign. But no; to do justice to these, their poor, 
oppressed subjects, does not seem to be possible for any of 
the weak, and bigoted, and priest-ridden House of Savoy, — 
now the royal House of Sardinia. Victor Amadeus II,, 
about 1726, two years before his abdication, caused the 
governor of Pignerol to receive the oath of allegiance from 



UNWORTHY CONDUCT OF VICTOR AMADEUS. 361 

these faithful inhabitants of the valleys, and promised them 
security in their possessions. And yet at the same time he 
diminished their territory by taking away the valley of 
Pragela from them,^^ and gave an order for all who were 
not born in the valleys to quit them forever. This caused 
three thousand Protestant French and Swiss who had been 
living among the Waldenses, some of them nearly forty years, 
to retire to Switzerland/^ and afterwards to Germany, w^here 
they settled in what are now the duchies of Baden and Hesse 
Darmstadt, and the kingdom of Wurtemburg. For several 
years there were fifteen churches of them, and as many pas- 
tors, who formed a synod. Seven of the pastors and as 
many schoolmasters were paid by the British government ; 
four received salaries from the government of the United 
Provinces of Holland ; and the remaining three from their 
princes and flocks. But these Waldensian colonies have 
long since become merged in the native population of those 
countries. Nevertheless, there are thousands of people in 
Germany to this day who can trace their origin to Walden- 
sian ancestors. 



61 ' In this valley,' said Perrin, in the year 1618, in a work entitled Luther'' s , Fore- 
runners^ ' there are at this day six goodly churches, every one having their pastor, 
and every pastor havdng divers villages, all filled w^ith those who have descended 
from the ancient Waldenses. They have been churches truly Protestant, time out 
of mind. Their old people (and some are about a hundred years old) have never 
heard, from their fathers or grandfathers, that mass was ever sung in their coun- 
Xry. And though perhaps the archbishop of Turin may have caused it to be sung in 
the said valley, the inhabitants have no knowledge of it, and there is not any 
amongst them that makes profession of any other faith, or belief, than the Confes- 
sion of which we have been speaking.' Widel)'' diflerent is the state of things in 
that valley now I For there is not one person in it at present who dares refuse 
to attend mass. 

62 The meanness of the government of Savoy followed them on the route. The 
duke had given them an order on the commissariat for bread ; but a courier over- 
look the miserable fugitives on Mont Cenis, and, under the pretence that something 
was wrong in the form of the order, got it from them, and carried it back to Turin^ 
leaving them to make their way as best they could, through Savoy, to Switzerland, 
without bread. 

31 



362 THE WALDENSES. 

XVIII. Subsequent History of the Waldenses. 

From this time to the conquest of Italy by the French, 
in the years 1796, 97, the only distinguishable features in the 
Waldensian history are, as has been well remarked by one 
who has w^ritten two very interesting works respecting them, 
^ resignation to an oppressive government, and adherence to 
their faith, and to the practice inculcated by it.' ^ 

During the times of the Directory of France and the 
reign of Napoleon, the conduct of the Waldenses was remark- 
able. Faithful to the fortunes of the falling royal house of 
Sardinia, notwithstanding all the evils they had endured from 
it during a period of four hundred years, they rallied around 
its standard as long as it floated on the Superga. And when 
Bonaparte annexed Piedmont to France, a gleam of pros- 
perity passed over their valleys, for they were put in 
possession of all their civil rights ; the maintenance of the 
Romish clergy, in communes where there were but few 
Romanists, was abolished ; and the Protestant pastors were 
enrolled with those of France ; and lands, yielding fourteen 
hundred francs annually, were allotted to each. For this they 
were grateful, and rendered that obedience which their 
religion teaches them to yield to the powers that be. Their 
country being often overrun by hostile armies during this 
period, the Waldenses gained the warmest praise, not only 
from the Sardinian monarch and his allies — the Russians 
and Austrians — but also from the French. Indeed Suchet, 
a French gen*eral, extolled their conduct greatly, in a bul- 
letin which he issued on the 24th of December, 1799. And 
well he might. The Waldenses treated with equal kindness 
the wounded of both the French and their enemies. On the 
occasion just referred to, they carried on their shoulders, 



63 Sir Hugh Dyke Acland, in his translation of the Glorieuse Rentreey p. 210. 



SUBSEQUENT HISTORY. 363 

three hundred wounded French soldiers in litters, across the 
Alps, from Bobi to Briangon, in the depth of winter, because 
of the absolute want of provisions to sustain themselves and 
these wounded persons in their valleys. It was this difficult 
and most humane action, that called forth the praise of 
Suchet. And yet this very action was attributed, by their 
enemies among the Piedmontese, to partiality to the French ! 
In the year 1794, the Roman Catholic curate at La Tour, 
and other fanatics, brought a similar charge against these 
people, when fort Mirabouc was captured by the French, 
through the treachery of the commanding officer. The 
blame was laid at the door of the Waldenses, although there 
was but one of their men in the garrison, and he, it was 
afterwards proved, protested against the conduct of the com- 
mandant in surrendering the place! But it mattered not. 
A plot was laid for the destruction of La Tour, St. Jean, 
Villar, and other villages. Eight hundred men were engaged 
to massacre all the inhabitants of those places, on the night 
of the 15th of May, whilst the flower of the population were 
employed in defending the frontier against the French. To 
the honor of M. Brianza, the Roman Catholic curate of 
Luserne, it ought to be said, that, the moment he heard of it, 
which was only on the morning of the very day before the 
time appointed for its execution, he hastened to inform the 
inhabitants of the devoted places. Captain Odetti, also a 
Romanist, as soon as he heard of the conspiracy, hastened to 
La Tour, and pledged the last drop of his blood, in the 
defence of its inhabitants. By the arrival of General Godin, 
a Swiss officer commanding the troops on the frontier, to 
whom fifteen couriers had been despatched in the course of 
the day, but who could not, until the last moment, be made to 
believe the horrible story — the plot was defeated. And yet 
its authors were never so much as arrested even — to say 
nothing of their being punished. 



364 THE WALDENSES. 

Upon the downfall of Napoleon, in 1814, the king of 
Sardinia recovered his ancient dominion, and none of his 
former subjects gave him a more cordial welcome than the 
Waldenses, though they had good reason to fear the change. 
They respectfully and loyally implored his protection. Lord 
William Bentinck, the commander of the British forces in 
Italy, also interfered in their behalf; but it was in vain. 
The congress of Vienna made no effectual provision for the 
protection of these people in their rights. Lord Castlereagh, 
whose duty it was to look after this matter, was wholly indif- 
ferent to it. He did not even return an answer to the 
address of the deputy whom they sent to Vienna. ^ 

The consequence was, what had been foreseen and feared 
by many, the ancient dynasty brought back all its bigotry, its 
subserviency to Eome, and its injustice towards the poor 
Waldenses. And though no persecution has taken place, yet 
there has been no year since, in which these people have not 
been oppressed in one way or another. At this moment, 
they are not allowed to acquire or hold property beyond the 
ancient limits ; they are prohibited from being physicians, 
surgeons, and advocates, though they may be apothecaries 
and counsellors in their own valleys ; they are forced to serve 
as soldiers, and about forty of their young men enter the 
army as conscripts every year, but they cannot rise above the 
rank of Serjeant; they are not allowed to work on the 
Romish holydays ; their pastors, instead of receiving fourteen 



64 It is hard to know what to think of Lord Castlereagh. Whether from a want of 
principle or want of sense, he seemed to neglect not only the interests of humanity, 
but even those of his own country, — as in the case of Java — to a greater degree 
than any other British minister of modem times. The conduct of the Emperor 
Alexander, in reference to the Waldensian deputy who appeared at Vienna, was 
very difl'erent. He heard with tears the simple statement which he gave, and in- 
stantly contributed twelve thousand francs, to be applied towards a hospital, and 
the rebuilding of a dilapidated church, though he was a member of a communion 
which differs very much in rites, and even in doctrines, from that of the Wal- 
denses. 



RENEWED INTEREST IN THEIR BEHALF. 365 

hundred francs each from the government, as in Napoleon's 
time, receive but five hundred, and that by means of a tax 
levied upon their people ; ^^ they may build neither churches 
nor parsonages without special permission, and this it is often 
difiicult to obtain ; they are not allowed to have a printing- 
press in their valleys, nor to print any thing within the king- 
dom, whilst the duties on books from abroad are enormous ; 
they cannot prevent a Catholic priest from coming into their 
houses, and trying to convert their children, if the boys have 
reached twelve, and the girls ten years of age ; they can buy 
no land from a Catholic living in the midst of them, though 
the Catholics may buy theirs ; it is death for them to attempt 
to proselyte a Catholic, though every encouragement is held 
out for their conversion to Romanism ; and, lastly, they are not 
allowed to intermarry with the Roman Catholics. 

XIX. Renewed Interest felt in their Behalf. 

For 'a long time the Waldenses were almost lost sight of 
by their Protestant brethren. But as soon as the long storm 
of war which had spread its devastations over Europe for 
more than twenty years was passed away, and general peace 
restored, upon the final overthrow of Napoleon, English 
Christians, in their visits to the continent, began to make 
their way to Italy, and some of them turned aside to see 
what had become of the * church in the wilderness,' and 
which they found, like the bush that Moses saw in the midst 
of the flames, in Mount Horeb, ' was not consumed.' Among 
these, the Rev. Dr. Gilly, now a prebendary of Durham, 
Rev. Mr. Sims, and Sir Hugh Dyke Acland, may be men- 
tioned, as those who have called the attention of the British 
Christian public strongly to the state of that people. Dr. 



65 But this is not the worst of it ; the government lays a tax far beyond that 
amount, and keeps the residue ! So that the poor people lose, instead of gaining, 
bv {he government provision. 

31* 



366 THE WALDENSES. 

Gilly, in particular, by a work which he published, in 1823, 
created a great interest in behalf of this body of primitive 
Christians, which he contributed to augment, by the publica- 
tion of a second volume,^ several years later, in which he 
gave the results of observations, made during a second tour 
in the valleys. In addition to these works, w^hich appeared 
in England, several were published on the continent, which 
created no little interest in Holland, Germany, and Switzer- 
land. In consequence of this revelation of the state of things 
-among the Waldenses, — their poverty, the insufficient num- 
ber and support of their pastors, the want of primary schools, 
the want of a college, the want of a hospital, etc., — large 
sums were raised in the course of five or six years for the aid 
of these poor people. When Dr. Gilly published his second 
work, no less a sum than one hundred and five thousand 
francs, or about twenty thousand ^ve hundred dollars, had 
been received from France, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden, 
and some German States, and which had been appropriated 
to buy the ground, erect and furnish a hospital at La Tour and 
a dispensary at Pomaret, with the exception of eight thou- 
sand francs, which were funded. In England, the sum of 
seven thousand three hundred and two pounds sterling had 
been raised, of which the interest was appropriated, as follows : 
one hundred and fifty pounds to the hospital and dispensary, 
twenty pounds to the education of young men for the min- 
istry, and forty pounds to the support of four girls' schools of 
industry. As to Holland and Prussia, the sums raised in 
those countries, like those collected in England, were invested 
in the public funds, and the interest is annually sent to the 
valleys, amounting to one hundred and fifty pounds, or three 
thousand seven hundred and Mtj francs, from the latter, 
and two thousand five hundred francs from the former. 
The whole income of the hospital and dispensary, from all 

66 Entitled Waldensian Researches; published in London, 1831. 



RENEWED INTEREST IN THEIR BEHALF. 367 

sources, (including rent of the estate belonging to it, etc.,) is 
twelve thousand three hundred and twenty francs. 

In addition to this, Mr. Sims obtained considerable sums 
for the establishment of girls' schools in the valleys, at his 
discretion, and subject to his control, and Dr. Gilly the very 
handsome sum of five thousand pounds, with the promise of 
more, to found a college. To choose the site, and take the 
requisite measures for the accomplishment of this great 
object, he made his second visit. 

Still more. Dr. Gilly and other friends succeeded, in 1827, 
in inducing the British government to restore the stipend 
which had been long paid, with some pretty serious interrup- 
tions, for the support of thirteen Waldensian pastors. The 
history of that stipend is not a little curious- We will give 
it in few words. 

We have stated that Charles II. squandered upon his pleas- 
ures the balance, £16,333 10s. 3d., which Cromwell had 
left in the hands of the government to form a fund for the 
future assistance of the Waldenses. To replace this, in part, 
and to efface the national disgrace, Queen Mary, consort of 
William III., gave, during her life, an annual pension of 
£425. After her death, this was for awhile withheld. But, 
at the instance of Archbishop Sharpe, it was renewed and 
increased to £500, by Queen Anne. This sum was regu- 
larly issued from the British exchequer every year until 
1797, under the name of royal bounty. From that epoch it 
was discontinued for a period of thirty years, partly because 
the valleys were in the possession of France during the 
former part of that period, and partly because the subject 
seemed to be lost sight of by those in power, as well as by 
others, with the exception of a few, who were unable to 
induce the government to restore the annuity. _ And when it 
was renewed, in 1827, the sum was reduced to 277 pounds 
sterling, which amounted to a little more than £21 (or 523 
francs) for each of the thirteen pastors. We ought to add, 



368 THE WALDENSES. 

that, to their great credit, they have refused to receive more 
than 300 francs each, and have devoted the remaining 2,900 
francs to the support of two more pastors, and to the relief of 
incapacitated pastors, and the widows of pastors. 

Nor must we omit to say^ that Colonel Beckwith, a pious 
and excellent man, who was a distinguished officer in the 
British army in the Peninsula, and lost a leg in the service of 
his country, has done much for these people. But of him, and 
his plans of usefulness, we shall have occasion to speak more 
fully in our next chapter. 

It is impossible not to be struck with the fact^ that this 
wonderful people have shared so extensively the sympathy 
of their fellow Protestants of every land, during so long a 
period. It speaks much in their behalf, as well as in behalf 
of that common bond of charity, which unites all the true 
followers of Christ, as well as all his churches, in one body, 
of which He is the head. Large sums of money were col-' 
lected in Switzerland, Holland, Germany, and England, to 
sustain the poor Waldensian exiles in the years 1686-89. 
In England, as we have seen, more than 38,000 pounds ster- 
ling were collected in Cromwell's day. In the year 1768, 
£10,000 more were collected in consequence of a letter of re- 
commendation from the king. From first to last, probably, 
not much less than seventy-five thousand pounds sterling 
have been collected in England, to sustain these children of 
the valleys. And certainly it would not be out of the way to 
suppose that twenty-five thousand, — perhaps twice as much, 
— have been collected in Switzerland, France, Holland, 
Germany, Denmark, Sweden,^^ etc. And verily their debtors 
we are ; for they maintained the Truth when all the rest of 
Christendom bowed the neck to the papal Antichrist. 

67 A little has been done in the United States for these people. Last year the 
Foreign Evangelical Society sent $300 to furnish libraries for fifteen parishes. It is 
an interesting fact, that Bishop Hobart preached a sermon in their behalf to the 
Araiericans at Rome, when he was in that city, some twenty years ago, or more. 



CHAPTER IV. 

PRESENT STATE OF THE WALDENSES ; THEIR ECCLESIAS- 
TICAL ORGANIZATION ; THEIR DOCTRINES ; THEIR MODE 
OF WORSHIP, ETC. 

I. Visit of the Author to the Valleys, 

Our first visit to the valleys inhabited by the "Waldenses 
was made in the latter part of May, 1837. We had ascended 
the valley of the Po, from Venice to Turin, making a journey 
of some forty or fifty miles each day, through one of the love- 
liest scenes in the world. The wheat was beginning to grow 
yellow in the fields, between the mulberry and other trees, 
which stood in rows some fifteen or twenty feet apart, and 
were united by festoons of grape-vines. The roads were 
in the finest order. On our right, in the distance, the Alps 
reared their lofty summits, and on the left the Apennines 
raised up theirs, — both still mantled with snow ; whilst the 
wide intervening valley was teeming with life, and covered 
with a luxuriant vegetation. The rose, and other flower-bear- 
ing shrubs adorned the wayside ; a sky of the purest azure 
was day after day over our heads, and we breathed an at- 
mosphere surpassingly balmy and invigorating. It was the 
season for the sweet singing of birds, and all nature was 
beaming with joy. 

We made but a short short stay at Turin — long enough 
only to view its beautiful streets, its magnificent Piazza Reale, 
its palaces, its museums, and the lofty hills which lie east of 
it, across the Po, and the Church of the Madonna which 
crowns the Superga, — for we hastened to visit scenes which 



370 THE WALDENSES. 

we had, from our earliest years, longed to behold. We had 
brought letters from Rome and Naples which introduced us 
to the late Count Waldbourg-Truchsess, then the ambassador 
of Prussia at the Court of Turin. Through him we made 
the acquaintance of the Rev, Mr. Bert, Chaplain of the 
Protestant embassies at that city. He was good enough to 
o^r to accompany us to the valleys, wishing indeed to make 
a visit to his friends. We set off at about three o'clock in 
the afternoon, in what we should call a gig or chaise. Our 
way was the excellent macadamized road that leads from 
Turin to Nice. At about six o'clock we reached Pignerol, dis- 
tant some twenty miles from Turin, where we spent a couple 
of hours, to see the cathedral, the monastery and convent, 
and the extensive barracks which were constructed by Louis 
XIV., in one of whose towers the ' Man in the Iron Mask,' — 
the object of so much curiosity and speculation, — is said to 
have been imprisoned. After having made our tour of sight- 
seeing, and taken a cup of tea with a very pleasant Walden- 
sian family, the only one then living in the place, we set out 
for the valleys, the nearest limit of which is not distant more 
than two miles, if so much. But as we wished to go to the 
village of St. Jean, we continued on the road from Pignerol to 
Nice, some two or three miles, as far as Osasco, where that 
which leads to the valleys diverges to the right. This road 
we pursued to Briqueras. It was rough enough at that time, 
but is now an excellent one, the Sardinian government hav- 
ing recently made a macadamized one from Osasco to Lu- 
serne.^ From Briqueras, we turned off almost at right 
angles, and followed the old road to St. Jean, which runs 
nearly a due west course.^^ At a short distance from Bri- 

68 This route we travelled over in our visit in 1843, it being but little out of the 
way to pass by the village of Luserne to reach La Tour, whither we were going. 

69 It is a very common thing for foreign tourists to describe the road from Briqueras 
to St. Jean as horrible, and charge the Sardhiian government with permitting it to be 



VISIT OF THE AUTHOR TO THE VALLEYS. 371 

queras we entered the Waldensian territory, and arrived 
shortly after ten o'clock at night, at the house of the Rev. 
Jean Pierre Bonjour, pastor of the parish, and brother-in-law 
of Mr. Bert.^^ Here we had the pleasure of finding Colonel 
Beckwith, who was making Mr. Bonjour's house his home at 
that period of his sojourn in the valleys. As soon as supper 
was over, Mr. Bert left us for the purpose of going up to his 
mother's, at the hamlet of St. Margarita, half a mile above 
the village of La Tour. 

II. Our first Impressions upon arriving in the Land of the 

Waldenses, 

Never, whilst memory lasts, can we forget the impressions 
made upon our minds by the scene, in the midst of which we 
passed that night. We were fairly in the territory of that 
martyr-race, of whom we had read so much from our youth. 
We were in a land where so many bloody persecutions had 
been endured, through several centuries, by a simple-hearted, 
unoffending people, who had committed no crimes against the 
state, but were called most cruelly to suffer, only because 
they firmly adhered to the religion of the Bible, which they 
had received from primitive Christians. We felt that we 



in that state out of sheer malevolence to the Waldenses. We apprehend that 
this is going too far. The road in question is bad in winter, and in the early- 
spring and late auiumn ; but it is no worse than the neighborhood roads^ throughout 
all Piedmont. Jl is rough, but not bad in the summer. As to the government's 
making a macadamized road from Osasco to Luseme, east and south of the Wal- 
densian ierritor>-, instead of across the lower part of it, and via St. Jean, the injus- 
tice is very trifling, inasmuch as it passes so near, that there can be no difficulty in 
making good lateral roads from that territory to intersect it at various points. If 
the Sardinian government were to make a macadamized road up into the very heart 
of these valleys, we doubt whether the Waldenses ought to thank ihem for it. 
Safety to the morals as well as the existence of these people is to be found, in our 
opinion, in their secluded stale. 

70 Madame Bonjour had died but a few months previous to our visit. She was 
a daughter of the late excellent moderator Bert. Her two sisters are also married 
to Waldensian pastor*. She was a most estimable aiid pious person. 



372 THE WALDENSES. 

were in a country, where every spot almost is associated with 
some desperate struggle, on the part of its inhabitants, to 
maintain those inalienable rights of conscience, which God 
had given them ; where every house had witnessed some 
scene of violence, and of cruelty ; and, in fact, where almost 
every foot of the soil had been steeped in the blood of those, 
who died for the ' testimony of Jesus.' 

Hours passed away in converse with dear brethren, 
in relation to the past, the present, and the future of this 
wonderful people. Nor did we retire to rest until long after 
midnight. And when we did, it was not to sleep ; for how 
could we ? We had come fresh from the scenes of Rome and 
Naples. We had just been standing on the Tarpeian Rock, 
we had been wandering amid the ruins of Caesar's palace, 
the amphitheatre of Flavins, the temple of Vesta, the villa of 
Cicero, the remains of Pompeii, and of Poestum. But, what- 
ever we may have felt of varied and indescribable emotion 
whilst thinking amidst these scenes of the rise, the progress, 
and the fall of Roman greatness and of Roman glory, it was 
nothing in comparison with that which we felt during that 
night. Till the morning light appeared, we could do nothing 
but revolve in our minds the history of these blood-stained 
valleys. In the mean while, the rain pattered steadily on 
the roof immediately above our heads, and from the bough of 
an apple-tree hard by the window of our chamber, a night- 
ingale sang in the sweetest manner all night long. 

The next morning, after breakfast, we set out on foot, with 
the good Colonel, to visit La Tour and other places in these 
valleys. Every where we were struck with the simple, 
honest, and Christian appearance and demeanor of those 
whom we met along the road. Without one exception, — 
and we remarked the same thing in our second visit, — we 
did not meet an individual, man, woman, or child, without 
receiving the kind salutation, — Bon Jour — in the former 



VISIT OF THE AUTHOR TO THE VALLEYS. 373 

part of the day, and Bon soir, or Bien hon soirj^ in the after- 
noon and evening. This was universal with the Waldensian 
or Protestant population. If we met a Roman Catholic, it 
was seldom that he returned any thing more than a sullen 
look, to our civil salutation. We have no pleasure in record- 
ing this ; we are simply stating a fact, and every foreigner 
who has visited those valleys will confirm our assertion. Nor 
did we meet a beggar there, nor in any of our subsequent 
tours in those valleys, who was a Protestant. The few we 
met were invariably Roman Catholics, who had come into 
the valleys from the country around, for the purpose of 
getting something from the Waldenses, or from strangers. '^^ 
Nor were we able soon to divest ourselves of the emotions of 
the preceding night. We felt that we were in a land where, 
if every rock, and every ancient tree, and every ancient 
house, had a tongue, it could tell a tale such as none could 
hear unmoved. And never did we so fully see and feel 
the beauty and the force of the remark of the Roman orator : 
' We are moved, I know not how, by the very places where 
remain the footsteps of those whom we either love or. ad- 

7T- A good day^ a good evening^ a very good evening. 

72 We have stated elsewhere, that the Waldenses were forced to abandon tho 
valley of Pragela, in the year 1727. They left behind thera, however, a good 
many Bibles, which were long preserved, read, and highly prized by the inhabi- 
tants, Roman Catholics though they are. In the interval betwixt our first and second 
visits, — about the year 1840 or '41, — the priests having heard of this, went through 
the villages and collected all the Bibles they could lay their hands upon, amounting 
to some forty or fifty, and bringing them together made a great bonfire in one of the 
villages. One man, however, would not give up his Bilile. Placing himself in the 
door of his house, with a loaded musket in his hands, he declared that he would 
shoot the first man who should dare to touch it, let him be priest or any one else. 
This heroic conduct saved his Bible, though it greatly irritated the priests. Not long 
afterwards, a fire broke out in the village where the Bible-burning had occurred, 
and consumed all the houses. Whereupon some of the priests made a tour of 
charity in the Protestant valleys. On applying to one of the Waldensian womea 
for aid, she boldly asked them, whether the fire had originated in a spark from the 
bonfire in which the Bibles had been burned? Confounded by her question, they 
made no reply, but went to the next house. 

32 



374 THE WALDENSES. 

mire. Even our Athens itself does not so delight me with 
its magnificent works, and its exquisite arts of the ancients, 
as by the remembrance of her great men, and the spots 
where each dwelt, sat, and disputed; I contemplate with 
eagerness even their very sepulchres.' ^^ 

And splendid as is the scenery of these valleys, and much 
as we have admired it, we can say with truth, that we have 
been a thousand fold more interested in traversing this little 
territory with the view of finding the localities where some 
heroic achievement in behalf of the Truth has taken place ; 
where death has been submitted to, rather than renounce the 
glorious gospel for a heathenish idolatry ; or where, whether 
in the cavern or on the mountain-side, in the hour of peril, 
and when all human hope was almost expired, God was 
earnestly sought in agonizing prayer, by the aged, the 
women, and the children, whilst all, who were able, were 
engaged in dreadful conflict with the enemy. Alas ! there 
are very many such places in these valleys. There is hardly 
a spot on or near which an intelligent Waldensian pastor, or 
laic even, will not be able to relate to you some thrilling 
occurrence as having taken place. How many such does 
one find even in the comparatively lowland parishes of St. 
Jean, Prarustin, and La Tour. Whilst the valley of Rora, 
the upper valley of Luserne, the valley of Angrogna, and 
the valley of St. Martin, are full of them. The history of 
these valleys is written on almost every projecting rock and 
eras in them. 



73 ' Movemur, nescio quo pacto, locis ipsis, in quibus eorum, quos diligimus aut 
admiramur, adsunt vestigia. Me quidem ipsae illse nostrce Alhenae non tarn operibus 
magnificis, exquisilisque antiquorum arlibus deleclant, quam recordalione summo- 
rum virorum, ubi quisque habitare, ubi sedere, ubi dispulare solitus sit ; studioseque 
eorum etiam sepulcra contemplor.' — Cicero, de Legib. lib. ii. cap. 2. 



THEIR HISTORY APPALLING. 375 

m. History of the Waldenses appalling. 

In our sketch of the history of the Waldenses, we have 
stated that, from first to last, they sustained thirty-three dis- 
tinct wars during the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth 
centuries. ^^ Besides all this, they endured at least two cen- 
turies before the commencement of the era of war, and about 
one hundred and fifty years since its termination, of oppres- 
sion, vexation, and petty persecution. Indeed, in some cases, 
this persecution was almost, if not quite, as hard to bear as 
open war itself. Their history, as a community, has been 
wholly without a parallel. What is for them in the future, 
God only knows. Little by little the Roman Catholics have 
been increasing among them for the last hundred years, and 
every thing is doing that is practicable, to root them out. To 
the operation of all these measures they will continue to 
make an indomitable resistance, aided by the sympathy of 
the whole Protestant world. And our hope is, that in God's 
mercy, the reign of the ' Man of Sin ' will, before a very long 
time passes away, be terminated. At any rate, we think 
that there will be such political changes in Italy, as will 
bring about the emancipation of the Waldenses from the 
galling oppression which they suffer. To get these valleys 
and the city of Geneva into her hands, would give Rome more 



T"* And horrible as have been some of the details we have given, we might have 
added many more. If a man wishes to know what the Waldenses have endured, 
he must read Gilles, Peyrani, Leger, Muston, their own authors, with care ; and 
Perrin also, who was a Frenchman. The first named has given a most minute 
account of what took place from the beginning of the thirteenth century to his 
times.* As to acts of cruelty, they occurred with such a frequency, and were so 
atrocious, that one grows weary of reading them. There is not a village where 
scenes of rapine have not taken place ; not a considerable section of a valley in 
which some battle did not occur ; and not a cavern to which the poor fugitives were 
not pursued, and in many cases, forced out by fire and smoke, to be murdered at 
the entrance ! 

* He finished his work in 1643, and, as he tells us, in the seventieth year of his age. 



376 THE WALDENSES. 

delight than any other conquest she could mak6, save that of 
England, Russia, and these United States. 

IV. Second Visit to the Valleys. 

During our second visit, in the summer of 1843, we were 
enabled to see much more of the Waldenses and their interest- 
ing country, than we did in the spring of 1837. We were also 
so happy as to have Mr. Bert with us again, on our journey 
from Turin out to La Tour, as well as to see much of him 
whilst there. We were enabled to visit all the valleys, save 
that of Rora, and had the pleasure of seeing all the professors 
of the college and grammar-schools, as well as most of the 
pastors of the churches. In our various tours, we also had the 
company of an excellent young Waldensian, '^^ then as now, a 
student of theology in the new Seminary at Geneva, under 
the care of Rev. Drs. Merle and Gausen, and the Rev. 
Messrs. Pilet and La Harpe. But instead of giving an 
account of these tours in detail, we shall group together, 
under appropriate heads, such information respecting the 
state of religion, morals, education, etc., in these valleys, as 
we think will interest the reader, 

y. Names of the present Pastors and Ministers in the 
Valleys — their Character. 

I. Valley of Luserne. Mr. Jean Pierre Bonjour, pastor of 
the parish, St. Jean ; Mr. Peyrot, La Tour ; Mr. Monas- 
tier, Angrogna ; Mr. Gay, Villar ; Mr. Revel, Bobi ; Mr. 
RoUier, Rora. 



75 Mr. B. Tron, who will soon finish his course of study ; he will then return to 
his native valleys, and preach Christ there. 



PASTORS AND MINISTERS. 377 

11. Valley of Perouse, Mr. Eostaing, Jun., pastor of Pra- 

rustin ; "^^ Mr. J. J. Bonjour, Moderator, St. Germain ; Mr. 

Vin9on, Secretary of the Table, Pramol; Mr. Lantaret, 

Pomaret. '^'^ 
in. Valley of St, Martin, Mr. Rostaing, Sen., pastor of 

Yille Seche; Mr. Jalla, Maneille; Mr. Canton, Macel; 

Mr. Buffa, Rodoret ; Mr. Gay, Prali. 
Chaplain at Turin, Rev. A. Bert. 
Professors in the College at La Tour, Rev. Messrs. Revel 

and Malan. 
Regent of the Grammar School at La Tour, Rev. P. Meille. 

*0f the present Yaudois ministers,' says a distinguished 
English author, whose discrimination is well known, ' I feel 
warranted to affirm, from my own personal intercourse with 
them, and from the testimony borne by themselves mutually, 
and by others, that they are sound in the faith ; and that in 
none of their pulpits is ' another gospel ' to be heard. They 
may not all preach the truth with the same degree of clear- 
ness, or the same degree of fidelity in their discriminative 
application of it to their hearers ; but the truth, in its grand 
leading principles, they do preach, and thus sustain the char- 
acter which they have inherited from their barbes, confessors, 
and martyrs, whose orthodoxy is beyond dispute. 

' With respect to education, they will bear comparison with 
the generality of pastors in the Lutheran, Dutch, and French 
Reformed Churches ; and although they might not be able to 
compete with many who have distinguished themselves at our 
universities, by the depth and extent of their classical and 

76 Prarustin, is, we believe, often placed in the list of parishes in the valley of 
Luserne, though, geographically considered, it is in that of Perouse. 

77 In 1843, when we were at Pomaret, the venerable and excellent Mr. Jalla, Sen. 
was pastor of that parish ; but he has since died, and Mr, Lantaret, the regent or 
principal of the grammar-school at that village, has been appointed to his place. 
Who has succeeded Mr. Lantaret in his former post we have not heard. 

32* 



378 THE WALDENSES. 

mathematical lore ; yet, for general information, and an 
acquaintance with the leading departments of literature, they 
will not be found behind the majority both of the English 
and Scotch clergy. Their complete isolation, and the scanti- 
ness of their means, necessarily cut them off from those 
sources of intelligence, which so plentifully abound in this 
country ; yet, if the subjects with which they are conversant 
are more contracted in their range, they have the advantage 
of being more profoundly and thoroughly studied than it is 
possible for those to be, where multiplicity and variety, if they 
do not bewilder, at least tend to superinduce roving, super- 
ficial, and unsatisfactory habits of thought. What the 
Vaudois pastors know, they know well; and they require 
only a more ample supply of select and valuable books, in 
order that they may, in some measure, keep pace with the 
growing intelligence of the age, and become the better pre- 
pared to defend the truth against its adversaries. On this 
subject, the author of the ^Authentic Details ' well remarks, 
^It certainly must be a severe privation to them to be 
debarred from books, and the means of pursuing any study 
they like ; none seem to think it possible to buy a book after 
their return ' from the academy.' ' ^^ 

To the above-cited testimony in behalf of the character 
and attainments of the Waldensian clergy, we can most sin- 
cerely and entirely subscribe. 

VI. Labors of the Waldensian Pastors. — Their Style of 

preaching. 

It is true, that for several centuries the churches of the 
valleys have ceased to send forth their missionaries, as in 
days of old, to carry the gospel throughout Europe. Several 
reasons may be assigned for this. One is, that the Reforma- 
ts Rev. Dr. Henderson, in his Vaudois, pp. 201, 202. 



i 



\ 



fc 



LABORS OF THE PASTORS. 379 

tion seemed to render this unnecessary, so far as Protestant 
countries are concerned. Another is, that this work became 
impossible in Roman Catholic countries, after the Reforma- 
tion had run its career, for they became hermetically sealed 
against the gospel until within the last few years. This was 
emphatically so, as it regarded France and Italy, which 
bound the valleys, and it is true of the latter to this day. 
And, in the third place, when the way did become open for 
the Waldenses to resume their missionary labors in a part — 
and it was till very lately but a small one — of the Roman 
Catholic world, various causes, as we shall see, had brought 
about a sad decline of vital piety in the churches of the 
valleys. 

But if the pastors of the Waldensian churches undertake 
no distant missionary tours, as they did centuries ago, they 
have nevertheless much to do. Their own country is in 
a very different position from what it was then. At that 
period they had the ground to themselves, within their own 
limits. Or, if there were any Romanists among them, they 
were too few to be regarded. It is far otherwise now ; for 
they have a numerous body of enemies of their Faith in their 
midst. These enemies are vigilant, active, and zealous, and 
have every advantage in the work of proselytism. And it 
becomes the Waldensian pastors to be ever at their posts, 
and always display an equal vigilance, lest while they sleep, 
or are absent from their work, the wolf come and catch the 
sheep, and their flocks be dispersed. 

No pastors with us have the pastoral care, and anxiety, 
and fatigue, that the little band of Protestant ministers have 
in those valleys. Some of them have under their charge 
many more souls than they can well look after. Fifteen hun- 
dred and two thousand souls are too many for any one man to 
watch over, in such a country as those valleys' are. A thou- 
sand souls would be too many, even in the parishes of St. 



380 THE WALDENSES. 

Jean, Prarustin, and La Tour, which are sub-mountainous 
and comparatively level, small, and densely populated. But 
in most of the interior parishes, five hundred people, scat- 
tered about in little hamlets, on the lofty and steep sides of 
great mountains, require a degree of toil and fatigue, amid 
the rigors of an Alpine winter, which few men are able 
long to endure. For months, during that inclement season 
of the year, it is almost impossible, in the higher parishes, for 
the pastors to make many visits to the distant and elevated 
hamlets. 

Nor is the labor much lighter in those parishes in the 
summer ; for then it is necessary for the pastors who have 
charge of them to go frequently up into the elevated alps, 
which are often on the summits of very high mountain- 
ranges, to collect the shepherds and herdsmen who go up 
thither to look after the cattle, sheep, and goats, which are 
driven up to pasture during the warm weather. Many of 
the young men and young women, together with some who 
are older and have more experience, are thus employed from 
June till October. In the very hot weather they go up to 
the highest points, where grass in considerable quantities can 
be found. As the autumn comes on, the increasing coolness 
and chilliness of the evenings make both man and beast seek 
the warmer atmosphere which lies lower down. And thus 
gradually they descend, till first frost, and then snow chases 
them quite down into the valleys below. 

These persons, who commonly pass the whole summer on 
the mountains, without descending more than once or twice, 
if at all, occupy small, rude, and uncomfortable houses, which 
are called chalets, commonly of stone. The women are there 
to cook, take care of the dairies, and some of the young and 
more active to help look after the live stock. Now as they 
are often miles away from the nearest church, and cannot go 
down into the valleys to hear the gospel, the pastors must go 



PUBLIC WORSHIP. 381 

Up as often as possible, to collect them together, and preach 
to them. There is special necessity for this. And here is 
scope for missionary tours of great importance and great 
fatigue also. The scenes which the preaching of the gospel 
by their barbes, on the tops or elevated sides of the moun- 
tains presents, are said to be in the highest degree pic- 
turesque and interesting. Many are the little basins, or 
indentations, and caves, which are consecrated spots, or 
bethels, if we may so call them, where the pastors collect the 
scattered members of their, flock from time to time, in the 
summer months, and preach to them the words of eternal 
life. 

As to the style of preaching which prevails in these 
valleys, it is simple,, affectionate, and persuasive, rather than 
very powerful and exciting. Nevertheless, there are some 
ministers among them who have energy enough. They com- 
monly write their sermons and commit them to memory. In 
no case do they read their discourses ; to this the people are 
strongly and universally opposed. 

VII. Mode of conducting Puhlic Worship in the Churches 

of the Valleys. 

Almost invariably the mode of conducting public worship 
is this : the regent, or teacher of the chief parish school, 
which is always held in the village where the church of the 
parish stands, commences the service by reading two or three 
chapters from Ostervald's French Bible. At the end of each, 
he reads the practical observations which are contained in 
the old folio edition of that excellent translation. After 
half an hour has been spent in that way, and when the 
people are well assembled, the pastor ascends the pulpit, and 
commences with a short invocation of the divine blessing, 
according to words of the Liturgy which is in use in the Wal- 



382 THE WALDENSES. 

densian churches. ^^ After this he calls upon the people to 
listen with attention to the Ten Commandments and the sum- 
mary thereof given by the Saviour. Then follows what is 
called the ' confession of sins,' which is the same that is found 
in the liturgies of the French and Swiss churches. Next 
follows the singing of a psalm, in which the whole congrega- 
tion join, A prayer of considerable length succeeds, taken 
from the liturgy commonly, though it is optional with the 
pastors, as it is with those in France and Switzerland, to 
make an extemporaneous prayer in place of the one in the 
book, if they prefer to do so. Then comes the sermon ; 
which is followed by the singing of a psalm or hymn. Next 
there is a prayer from the liturgy, which is pretty rigidly 
adhered to. This prayer embraces the petitions for the king, 
royal family, government, church universal, and their own 
churches in particular, the afflicted, etc. etc. This prayer is 
followed by the recital of the Lord's prayer, and the Apos- 
tles' creed. A few verses are then sung and the Aaronic 
benediction is pronounced. 

When the rite of baptism is to be administered, it imme- 
diately follows the sermon. When the Lord's Supper is 
celebrated, it likewise follows the sermon in the forenoon. 
For both these occasions there are special and appropriate 
prayers in the liturgy. 

In administering baptism, the minister, after a special 
prayer for the occasion, and an address to the parents, or 
those who present the child, descends from the pulpit, places 
his hands together, into which some one present pours water 
from a vial or small bottle^ which he in turn pours upon the 
child, pronouncing at the same time its name, and repeating 
the words of the institution : ' I baptize thee, in the name of 



79 This invocation is in these words : ' Notre aide soit au nom de Dieu, qui a fait 
le ciel et la terre. Amen I » 



WALDENSIAN LITURGY. 383 

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.' The whole form, 
phraseology, etc., is exactly like what exists in our Presby- 
terian and Congregational churches. 

As to the Lord's Supper, the pastor reads, after the sermon, 
which always relates to the ordinance, the words of the insti- 
tution in 1 Corinthians, 11 : and then proceeds to do what is 
called, in the Scottish churches, 'fencing the tables," namely: 
to describe the character of those who are unworthy to par- 
take of the ordinance, and exhort all to a proper self- 
examination. A special prayer is then offered, after which 
the congregation sing a hymn. A brief exhortation follows, 
and then a hymn. The minister then comes down from 
the pulpit, and proceeds to the administration of the ordi- 
nance. The pastor, after a suitable prayer from the lit- 
urgy, jfirst partakes of the elements, and then the elders, who 
are all seated around him in the large square pew below 
the pulpit. After which, the members of the church come 
forward, two by two, the men first, and then the women. 
Whilst presenting the communicants with the elements, the 
pastor repeats to them appropriate texts of Scripture ; in the 
mean while the congregation continues to sing hymns adapted 
to the occasion. A contribution for the benefit of the poor is 
made by each communicant. The minister then ascends the 
pulpit, and concludes with a short exhortation, thanksgiving, 
and benediction. 

VIII. Liturgy of the Waldensian Churches. 

The liturgy which is at present used in the churches of 
the valleys, was adopted by the synod at its sessions in the 
year 1839. It is a volume of two hundred and twenty-nine 
pages duodecimo, and was printed at Lausanne, in 1842. It 
is a collection of prayers for public and private use, and 
suited to every variety of occasion, as well as to all classes of 
individuals. There are prayers to be used in the family and 



384 THE WALDENSES. 

in the closet, for every morning and evening of the week. 
There are forms of prayer and thanksgiving to be used 
before and after meals. And at the close, there is the Con- 
fession of Faith made by these churches in the year 1655 ; 
the Lord's Prayer ; and the Apostles' creed. 

Before the introduction of the present liturgy, the Wal- 
densian churches were in the habit of using those of the 
Protestant churches of Switzerland. It was natural that 
they should do so. Having no theological school of their 
own for more than three hundred years after the Reforma- 
tion, nor even a college, they were compelled to send their 
young men to Lausanne and Geneva for their education. In 
this way relations of the strictest friendship and great inti- 
macy, sprang up between the ^Evangelical Church of the 
Valleys ' and the Protestant churches of Switzerland ; and it 
is not at all extraordinary that the Swiss liturgies should gain 
currency in the churches of the Waldenses. 

It contributed greatly to this result, that the Waldenses, 
having lost by the plague, which prevailed so extensively in 
Italy in the year 1630, no less than thirteen out of their 
fifteen pastors, had to look to Switzerland and France for 
Protestant ministers to take their place. From that day the 
French language has been used instead of the patois, or dialect, 
in which the services had previously been, in the main, 
conducted. 

"When we were in the valleys in the year 1837, we found 
the Genevan liturgy ^ used by seven of the pastors, that of 
Neuchatel by six, and that of Lausanne by two. There 
was no rule in relation to this matter. And sometimes a 
pastor used one or the other of two liturgies, just as it pleased 
his fancy. Sometimes the schoolmaster, in conducting the 



80 It was the old Genevan liturgy which the churches in the valleys used, of the 
edition of 1754 ; and not the mutilated, socinianized modern one, which the * Ven- 
erable Company of Pastors ' put forth, in 1817. 



WALDENSIAN LITURGY. 385 

public prayers, used a liturgy different from that of tlie 
pastor. Now although these different liturgies were the 
same in the order of the services, and almost the very same 
in detail and phraseology, yet there was manifest inconve- 
nience in this state of things. This led the synod to order a 
new liturgy to be formed, which should take the place of all 
the others. This liturgy is wholly made up of selections 
from the three in former use, and is very simple, appropriate, 
and beautiful. ^^ We think that a liturgy, to be useful and 
safe in the public worship of God, should be short, simple, 
and not wholly supplant extemporaneous prayer. We have 
ever admired the liturgies of the French and Swiss Protest- 
ant churches, and the judicious and limited extent to which 
the prayers, which they contain, are used in the public 
service. 

That the churches in the valleys used a liturgy before they 
knew any thing of the Protestant churches of Switzerland, 
we think, with Drs. Gilly and Henderson, is altogether 
probable. ^^ 

81 Some years ago, quite a number of copies of the Prayer Book of the Estab- 
lished Church of England, in French, were sent to the valleys for distribution ; but 
not being approved by the Table, they were never introduced into the churches . 
Dr. Gilly, in 1829, made a formal proposal for the compilation of a liturgy, to be 
formed, in part at least, after the model of that of the Church of England.* In con- 
sequence of this, a commission was appointed to execute the task. And in 1839, 
the liturgy which had been prepared was approved by the synod, and ordered to be 
adopted and used by the churches. It does not appear that any part of the English 
liturgy was introduced into it ; nor does it appear that the platform which it ex- 
hibits was taken for a model. The advertisement prefixed, states that it is a collec- 
tion of prayers extracted from the Swiss liturgies which had formerly, and for a 
long time, been in use in the valleys. 

* Waldensian Researches, p 385. 

82 See Dr. Gilly's Waldensian Researches, chap. iii. pp. 215-229; and Dr. Hender- 
son's Vaudois, pp. 222, 223. 

In speaking of what he had seen in the library of Geneva, an English writer 
says : ' In addition to these MSS., there is a short liturgy in the Vaudois dialect, a 
small octavo on vellum, bound in crimson velvet. I saw it, and thought it quite 
complete.' Jackson's Remarks on the Vaudois of Piedmont. Appendix, p. 276. 

33 



386 THE WALDENSES. 

We will only remark further respecting the liturgy now in 
use in the Waldensian churches, as well as the Swiss liturgies 
which preceded it, that there are no remains of Romanism 
in them. They were not fashioned after the model of the 
liturgy of the Latin Church, much less are they a translation 
of that liturgy, with some omissions of the grosser parts of 
it. But they are wholly modern, Protestant, scriptural, and 
simple. They contain no vain repetitions ; no responses on 
the part of the people. They are, in a word, nothing but a 
collection of appropriate prayers, very much such as every 
well-educated minister in those of our churches which 
employ no liturgy, would make in public worship, or such 
as we suppose he would write if he were to sit down to the 
task. 

IX. Polity of the Evangelical Church of the Valleys, ^ 

That the constitution of the Waldensian Church comes 
nearer to the Presbyterian polity than to any other now in 
existence, will be conceded by all who will examine it for a 
moment. We will give its outlines. 

In the first place there is a court called the Consistory, in 
each church, consisting of the pastor, elders, one or more 
deacons, and a legal adviser. The elders are nominated by 
the public votes of the parishioners, taken in the several 
hamlets or quarters of the parish ; and from the names thus 
presented to them, the consistory selects the number re- 
quired. No one is eligible to that office, who keeps a public 
house, or depends on charity for his maintenance. The 
elders are installed, after the sermon in the church, and have 
a charge given them to watch over the interests of the flock, 
especially in the quarter where they live ; to aid the pastor ; 

83 This is the proper title of the churches of the Waldenses. They disclaim the 
name of Protestant^ for they .«ay they never came out from Rome, inasmuch as they 
never were in Rome. They are simply an Evangelical Church. 



POLITY OF THEIR CHURCH. 387 

to exhort to the performance of duty ; to reprove the erring ; 
to promote the spirit of piety ; to look after the poor, etc., 
very much as elders are charged with us. They are then 
commended to God in prayer. 

The next court is the Table,^^ or Board. It is com- 
posed of three pastors, namely, the moderator, the modera- 
tor-adjunct, and the secretary of the synod, and two lay- 
men, who are elected by the synod. This court carries into 
effect the decisions of the synod in the intervals of its 
meetings ; superintends the churches and schools, including 
the conduct of pastors and teachers ; carries on the foreign 
and domestic correspondence ; chooses the deputations to 
foreign countries ; suspends unworthy pastors and school- 
masters ; examines and ordains candidates for the ministry ; 
superintends the conduct and studies of the young men who 
have the ministry in view ; settles difficulties which may 
arise between pastors and their congregations, etc., etc. This 
body, as will at once be seen, is a very important one, and 
has extensive powers. The members have their daily ex- 
penses defrayed whilst engaged in the business of the Table, 
but the secretary receives no additional compensation. 

The supreme ecclesiastical court of the Waldenses is the 
Synod. This body embraces all the regular pastors and 
professors in the college who are ministers, the pastor-chap- 
Iain at Turin, and two elders as deputies from each parish. 
Besides these, superannuated pastors and candidates of 
theology may attend and speak, but not vote. The two 
elders from each parish have but one vote. The Intendant 
of Pignerol, with his secretary, attends, not as a member, 
but to see that nothing shall be done which might injure the 
cause of the Eoman Catholic Church, and that the synod 

84 So called, originally, we suppose, from the members meeting around a Table. 
It is a committee ad interim^ and resembles the Commission of the General Assem- 
bly of 4he Church of Scotland. 



388 THE WALDENSES. 

confine itself to the subjects specified in the petition addressed 
to the government, asking leave to hold the present meeting. 

As soon as the synod convenes, it is opened with prayer 
by the last moderator ; after which they choose a new mode- 
rator, (who holds his office till the next regular meeting of 
the synod,) a moderator-adjunct, and a secretary. Two 
elders are also chosen at that stage of the business, to form a 
portion of the new Table. After this, the .synod proceeds 
with its usual business, which is various, and often impor- 
tant ; for it looks after the churches, schools, salaries of min- 
isters, and teachers ; enforces discipline, etc., etc. A great 
deal of its action has reference to civil as well as ecclesiasti- 
cal affairs. Formerly, and for ages, the synod was the 
highest civil as well as religious court. In those times, it 
met once a year, commonly in the month of September ; but 
in the winter, if persecution raged. Afterwards, it met once 
in three years. For a good while, it has met only once in 
five years, on account of the difficulty and expense of getting 
the governmental permission to hold a meeting, which costs 
about two hundred and forty dollars of our money, a large 
sum for these poor people to pay. 

The circumstance of two thirds of the members being 
laymen, is to be ascribed to the fact, that the synod is in 
some sense the supreme court of the Waldenses, for the 
cognizance not only of spiritual matters, but also of much 
that is mixed or secular ; such as education, provision for the 
poor, erection of churches and school-houses, etc., etc. 

The moderator has no extraordinary power or authority. 
He is simply president of the Synod, and of the Table, and 
performs the functions which usually pertain to such an 
office. He appears at the head of his brethren in his official 
capacity only. He is elected for five years, and may be re- 
elected, though this seldom occurs. He has no inherent right 
of ordination, as some have asserted ; and his office is in no 



POLITY OF THEIR CHURCH. 389 

sense whatever episcopal. Nor has it ever been. In the 
matter of ordination, he presides, states the object of the 
service, reads what are termed the apostolical canons : namely, 
Eph. 6 : 11 - 13 ; 1 Tim. 3: 1-7; 4: 1-6; Tit. 1 : 5 - 9 ; 
1 Pet. 5 : 1-4. He then delivers an appropriate charge to 
the candidate, presenting to his mind a summary of his duties 
as a minister of Jesus Christ, etc. Having then stated to 
the congregation that the candidate comes before them for 
ordination in the regular and proper way, and fortified with 
the necessary testimonials of proficiency in learning, etc., 
he sets forth the usual arguments for believing that God has 
given authority to his servants to ordain men for the holy 
office. After this, he calls upon the candidate to kneel ; the 
moderator then descends from the pulpit, imposes his hands 
on the head of the candidate, all the other pastors present 
doing the same, utters the prayer prescribed for the occasion. 
After this, the moderator and all the pastors give the newly 
ordained the right hand of fellowship, and the service con- 
cludes with the prayer which is usually offered after sermon. 
Such is the practice which at present exists in the churches 
of the Waldenses. There is nothing in the organization, or 
action of these churches, that in the slightest degree savors of 
prelacy.^ And, in answer to our inquiries on this subject, 
the pastors have, without exception, stated that prelacy has 
never existed in the valleys ; and that such has ever been 
the uniform opinion of their ancestors, so far as it has been 
handed down to them. As to the bishops spoken of in some 
of their early writings, they believe that they were nothing 
more than pastors. They say, what is undeniable, that their 
histories speak continually of their harhes^ as being their re- 



85 In the portion of the liturgy which refers to ordination, there is no specific 
mention of the moderator. The phrases employed are Le Pasteur officiant: le Pas- 
teur : but it seems to be considered as peculiarly proper that the moderator should 
officiate on the occasion. 

33* 



390 THE WALDENSES. 

ligious teachers and guides, but that the word bishop is 
hardly ever met with.^^ 

With regard to the settlement of ministers in the valleys, 
we have to say that in all the parishes, save the four upper- 
most ones, Prali, Radoret, Macel, and Maneille, which are 
exceedingly difficult posts, there is no restriction on the 
choice of a minister, save that they may not elect one who is 
younger than the pastors who are in those high and moun- 
tainous parishes. As to those four parishes, they are re- 
quired to choose young men. It thus happens that almost 
all their ministers must commence their pastoral life by 
laboring for a season, — commonly but a few years, — in 
those elevated and hard fields. After that they stand a 
chance to succeed to vacancies in the more important par- 
ishes in the valleys below. So that it may be said of them, 
that in going down in the world they rise in honor and influ- 
ence in the church ! 

When we visited the valleys in the year 1837, the Kev. 
Jean Pierre Bonjour, pastor of the parish of St. Jean, was 
moderator of the synod. When we made our second visit, 
in the summer of 1843, his brother, Jean Jacques Bonjour, 
pastor of the parish of St. Germain, held that office. Who 
was elected by the synod at its meeting last September, we 
have not heard. 

The salaries of the Waldensian pastors vary from about 
twelve hundred and fifty to fifteen hundred francs (from two 
hundred and forty-seven to two hundred and ninety-six dol- 

86 The advocates of prelacy have great difficulty with the case of the Waldenses. 
And this Mr. Faber admits, when he says, (in his Inquiry into the History and The' 
ology of th£ Ancient Vallenses and Albigenses, p. 553,) ' I readily confess, that I am 
not able to demonstrate the circumstance of their possessing an apostolical succes- 
sion, either as regularly transmitted by the episcopal ordination, or as less regu- 
larly handed down by the simple imposition of the hands by the presbytery.' And 
bethinks — and we concur with him in this opinion — that 'it may, perhaps, en- 
danger the whole system of apostolical succession, if we too rigidly insist upon the 
absolute necessity of a transmission through the medium of bishops exclusively.^ 



POLITY OF THEIR CHURCH. 391 

lars). Four of the oldest have an addition made to theirs 
proportioned to the age of each. We have stated that from 
a tax levied on the Waldenses themselves by the Sardinian 
government, the sum of five hundred francs is raised for each 
pastor. We have also stated that the British government, 
since 1827, has annually sent the sum of two hundred and 
seventy-seven pounds sterling, ^^ which gives each of thirteen 
pastors three hundred francs, and leaves a balance for the 
support of two additional pastors, and for the relief of inca- 
pacitated pastors and the widows of pastors. A part of the 
moneys received from Holland is appropriated to the last- 
named object. 

It will be seen from this statement that a considerable part 
of the salaries of their pastors has to be made up by the 
Waldenses themselves, in the way of voluntary contributions. 
Each pastor has a presbytere, or parsonage, with a few acres, 
which is kept in order by the parish. No fees are given at 
marriages, baptisms, or funerals. 

We conclude what we have to say on the polity of the 
Waldensian churches, with an extract or two from the pen 
of one whose opinion on this subject is entitled to great 
weight. 

'The first thing that strikes a stranger on entering the 
temples of the Vaudois, is the perfect contrast which their 
services present to those of the Church of Rome. Here are 
no visible objects of worship, no mediating priests, no splen- 
did vestments, no gaudy or childish ceremonies, no pompous 
processions, no trumpery relics of paganism, — but all is 
simplicity, decency, and order. The pastor and the reader 
are the only persons who officiate in the congregation, and 



87 In the year 1768, the sum of £10,000 was collected in England, and intrusted 
to the ' Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts ; 1 and the interest, 
amounting to £292, was regularly remitted to the valleys till 1797. We believe that 
since its renewal, a part is devoted to the support of schools. 



392 THE WALDENSES. 

contribute to their edification. Instead of a magnificent 
altar, decked with gold and silver, and precious stones, 
towards which the worshippers are to turn, or before which 
they are to prostrate themselves, there is only a plain table 
in the pew before the pulpit, from which the elements of the 
Lord's Supper are dispensed to the communicants. Instead 
of mass-books, in an unknown tongue, is the Bible, in a lan- 
guage which all understand, and of which copious portions 
are read at each service. Instead of chanting priests, sing- 
ing boys, pealing orchestras, and ignorant multitudes gazing 
and listening with superstitious admiration, we find the whole 
congregation celebrating, in full and intelligent chorus, the 
praises of Jehovah. And this simple worship, which reminds 
us of that of the primitive Christians, before the fathers broke 
in upon its integrity by the addition of rites and ceremonies 
of their own invention, there is every reason to believe is 
pretty much the same that has obtained in the valleys of 
Piedmont from ancient times. Accustomed, as the Vaudois 
were, to assemble in the houses of their barbes, in caves, 
under the shade of their wide-spreading chestnuts, or on the 
verdant sides of their Alpine mountains* they could have 
nothing to tempt the introduction of any rites inconsistent 
with the noble simplicity of their institutions. The main 
ground which they had all along occupied in opposition to 
Rome, consisted in their refusing to receive any doctrine or 
usage that did not possess the sanction of the Word of God. 

' From what we know of the religious practices of the 
Cathari, and other reformers in different parts of the 
north of Italy, it is natural to conclude, that the ancient 
Vaudois, if they had not a regularly organized church consti- 
tution, derived from Apostolic times, (as some are inclined to 
believe,) were originally accustomed to meet, in the simple 
capacity of Christians, for the worship of God, and mutual 
edification, much in the same way as those in the present 



POLITY OF THEIR CHURCH. 393 

daj, who have their reunions^ or prayer-meetings, in addition 
to the public service in the churches. By degrees, as they 
became better acquainted with each other, and had opportu- 
nity of ascertaining which of them were specially endowed 
with gifts for edification, they would devolve upon such the 
prominent parts of the service ; and at length regard them as 
their stated leaders, pastors, or spiritual rulers. In some 
instances, it is more than probable, they enjoyed the instruc- 
tion of those who had been priests in the Roman Church, but 
whose eyes God had opened to discover her abominations, 
and whom He had induced to come out of her, lest they 
should be partakers of her plagues. 

' Of apostolical succession, in the way of a regular sacerdo- 
tal line of descent, they had no conception. They would 
have scouted the idea, as tending to reduce them to the yoke 
of bondage to human institutions, from which it was their 
privilege and their duty to be free. To apostolical succes- 
sion they did, indeed, pretend : but it was a succession, not of 
men, but of doctrine — a succession, not in the shape of a 
mystical, undefinable, intangible something, attaching to 
priestly virtue and authority ; but in the solid, substantial, 
and reasonable faith of a living Christianity. It was not a 
transmission of something called grace, lodged in and deriva- 
ble only from an episcopate ; but of the divine principles of 
the gospel, which teach the only true and saving grace of 
God, as deposited in the one glorious Mediator, and derivable 
from him, upon all believers. They never dreamed that 
union with a certain order of men, and reception of the ordi- 
nances of Christianity at their hands, were essential to salva- 
tion ; but taught, that the only things essentially requisite to 
this all-important result, were, acceptance with God, through 
the propitiatory sacrifice of his Son, and the renewal of the 
soul into his sacred image, by the regenerating influences of 
the Holy Ghost. 



394 THE WALDENSES. 

' That the Vaudois ever had bishops, in the popish, or pre- 
latical acceptation of the term, does not appear. !N^o trace of 
an episcopal hierarchy is to be found in any of their ancient 
documents. Their church polity has all along been essen- 
tially popular. Seo 3Iinistres majores e menores^ are re- 
garded as one of the marks of Antichrist, in the Book of 
Antichrist, bearing date 1120.'^^ 

X. Doctrines of the Waldensian Churches, 

There is abundant evidence, that the churches in the val- 
leys have in all ages maintained an essential soundness in the 
Faith. Even very few of their bitterest enemies ever dared 
to charge them with heresy. This is very remarkable. To 
the Paulicians and the Albigenses were imputed the gross 
errors of the Manicheans ; but the most distinguished Roman 
Catholic authors who have written against the Waldenses, 
have admitted that they held the doctrines contained in the 
apostles' creed; their only, their unpardonable fault being, 
that they rejected the authority of the pope, and all the dog- 
mas and practices of the Church of Eome, which are contrary 
to the Scriptures. 

Sir Samuel Morland brought with him to England a great 
many treatises and documents, from these valleys, some of 
which were very ancient, such as the NoUe Lesson, the 
Treatise on Antichrist, a Catechism, and others, some of 
which are admitted to belong to the twelfth century, which 
he deposited in the library of the University at Cambridge.^ 

88 The existence of higher and lower orders of ministers. 

89 Rev. Dr. Henderson, in his Vaudois^ pp. 205 — 208. 

90 It is a mysterious fact, that of the twenty-one volumes of Waldensian docu- 
ments, which Sir Samuel Morland presented to the Library of Cambridge, in Au- 
gust, 1658, the first seven, containing the most ancient and valuable, have long 
since disappeared, and not a vestige of them can be traced ! Some have supposed 
they never were actually deposited, and that Sir Samuel, though he intended to 



THEIR DOCTRINES. 395 

An examination of these records, — including confessions of 
faith, and declarations of their doctrines at different epochs — 
will satisfy any man who knows what the gospel is, that its 
great and saving truths were always maintained by the 
Evangelical Church of the valleys, even in the darkest 
periods. 

It is true, that the Reformation gave them a more clear 
and systematic arrangement of doctrines, and made some of 
these assume a greater prominence than they had hitherto 
had in their creeds and formularies. Of this we have proof 
in the doings of the synod which met at Angrogna, in Sep- 
tember, 1535, where, after having heard the result of the 
conference which George Morel and Peter Mascon, two 
pastors whom their brethren of Provence and Dauphiny 
had sent to see Bucer, CEcolarapadius, and other Reformers 
in Switzerland and Germany, they adopted seventeen propo- 
sitions, which are eminently Protestant.^^ 

place them there, was prevented from doing so. But this is hardly probable. In 
his work on the Waldenses, he speaks in the most positive manner of having de- 
posited them, and tells us w^hat they were. The most probable conjecture about 
their fate, is, that they were carried oft' by some Jesuit in the time of James II. 

91 Article 1. Divine service cannot be duly performed, but in spirit and truth ; for 
God is a spirit, and whosoever will pray unto him must pray in spirit. 

2. All that have been, or shall be saved, were elected by God before all worlds. 

3. They who are saved cannot miss of salvation. 

4. Whosoever maintaineth free-will, wholly denieth predestination, and the 
grace of God. 

5. No work is called good, but that which is commanded by God; and none 
evil but that which he forbiddeth. 

6. A Christian may swear by the name of God, without any contradiction to 
what is written in the fifth chapter of Matthew, provided that he who sweareth, 
laketh not the name of the Lord in vain. Now that person sweareth not in vain, 
whose oath redoundeth to the glory of God, and the good of his neighbor. A man 
also may swear in judgment, because he that beareth the office of a magistrate, be 
he Christian or infidel, derives his power from God. 

7. Auricular confession is not enjoined by God ; and it is concluded according 
to the holy Scriptures, that the true confession of a Christian consists in confessing 
himself to one only God, to whom belong honor and glory. There is another kind 
of confession, which is, when a man reconcileth himself to his neighbor, whereof 
mention is made in the fifth of Matthew. The third manner of confession is, when, 



396 THE WALDENSES. 

Their present Confession of Faith was made in 1655, 
when they addressed their famous appeal to the Protestant 
nations, in which they declared that their Faith coincided 
with that of the Protestant Churches of Germany, Switzer- 
land, England, the United Provinces, Denmark, Sweden, 
Poland, Bohemia, etc. This document consists of thirty- 
three articles, and was drawn up with great ability, by Leger 
and others, who led them in that day of dreadful trial. It is 
eminently evangelical, and, though Calvinistic in its tenden- 
cy, is so moderate and guarded in its statements, that there is 
little in it which even the most strenuous opposer of Calvin- 
ism, as a system, would condemn. 

That there was a falling off in relation to sound doctrine 
towards the close of the last century, and in the beginning of 



as a man's sin is public, and exposed to the notice and censure of all men, so his 
confession and acknowledgment of the fault be as public. 

8. We must rest, or cease, upon the Lord's day, from all our labors, out of zeal 
for the honor and glory of God ; for the better exercise of charity towards our neigh- 
bor, and our better attendance upon the hearing of the Word of God. 

9. It is not lawful for a Christian to revenge himself on his enemy, in any case 
or manner whatsoever. 

10. A Christian may exercise the office of a magistrate over Christians. 

11. There is no certain time determined for the fast of a Christian ; and it doth 
not appear in the Word of God, that the Lord hath commanded or appointed certain 
days. 

12. Marriage is not prohibited to any man, of what quality or condition soever 
he be. 

13. Whosoever forbiddeth marriage, teacheth a diabolical doctrine. 

14. He who hath not the gift of continency is bound to marry. 

15. The ministers of the Word of God ought not to be removed from one place 
to another, unless it be to the great benefit and advantage of the Church. 

16. It is no ways repugnant to the apostolical communion, that the ministers 
should possess any thing in particular, to provide for the maintenance of their 
families. 

17. As to the sacraments, it hath been determined by the holy Scriptures, that 
we have but two sacramental signs, or symbols, which Christ Jesus hath left unto 
us ; the one is baptism, the other the eucharist or Lord's supper, which we receive 
to demonstrate our perseverance in the faith, according to the promise we made in 
our baptism in our infancy ; as also in remembrance of that great benefit which 
Jesus Christ hath conferred upon us, when he laid down his life for our redemption, 
cleansing us with his most precious blood. Perrin's Hist. lib. ii. c. 4. 



THEIR DOCTRINES. 397 

the present, cannot be denied. This was brought about by 
the influence of Geneva and Lausanne, especially the for- 
mer, whither the Waldenses have been in the habit of send- 
ing their young men to pursue their studies for the ministry. 
When Cnlvin established the academy of Geneva, provision 
was made for the education of two students from the valleys, 
at the expense of the city. At Lausanne, provision was 
made for the education of five, in the academy or university 
of that city. In consequence of this, there have always been 
seven Waldensian students of theology prosecuting their 
studies in those institutions, during the last three hundred 
years. And when a cold rationalism, or German neology, 
crept into them, and especially into the former, its deleterious 
influence could not but reach to the valleys. Thanks be to 
God ! that day is over. All the pastors of that country are 
now decidedly orthodox, though they are not all as discrimi- 
nating and zealous as they ought to be. In this respect, too, 
there is manifest progress. Instead of sending their students 
to the academy of Geneva, where rationalism still reigns in 
Calvin's seat, they place those who go to that city, chiefly, if 
not exclusively, in the new theological school, of which the 
distinguished Merle d'Aubigne is the president. At this 
moment they have six young men in that institution. They 
have usually a far greater number at Lausanne, mostly, how- 
ever, in other departments of study than theology. 

On the subject of baptism, these churches are, as has already 
been intimated, paedobaptist. And their pastors have assured 
us that it is their belief, founded on their histories and tradi- 
tions, that they have ever been such from the earliest times. 
They stated to us, that if ever there was a time in which they 
did not baptize their children, it was in those ages of oppres- 
sion, when they were not permitted to do it themselves, and 
they would not sufier the Roman Catholic priests to adminis- 



34 



398 THE WALDENSES. 

ter that ordinance, inasmuch as they have added to it several 
superstitious practices, which they utterly reject.^ 

We may remark, that the Catechism which they employ, 
and which they are most careful to teach their children, is the 
excellent one of Ostervald, which is eminently clear, judicious, 
and sound. 

XI* Roman Catholic Influence in the Valleys. 

The reader has, without doubt, been impressed with the fact 
that there are as many Roman Catholic churches as Protest- 
ant among the Waldenses, and that the adherents to Rome 
have been for a long time steadily increasing. They are to 
be found in every parish. And as they are ever ready to 
buy the lands which the poor Waldensians may be forced 
through overwhelming poverty to sell, and can offer twice or 
thrice as much, if necessary, for it as their poor brethren of 
the same Faith can give, they have been gradually getting 
the best lands into their hands. It is probable that there 
will be less of this in future ; for the friends of the Walden- 
ses in England, Holland, Prussia, and Switzerland, will look 
after this matter. 

And though it is a delightful fact that these Waldenses 
live on good terms with their Roman Catholic neighbors in 
the valleys, it is not the less true that the priests are infusing 
a proselyting spirit into their people which manifests itself in 
various ways. Even foreign Protestants, especially ladies, 



92 In the text, we have stated the practice which exists among the Waldenses in 
the valleys of Piedmont, and the opinions of the present pastors. Their histories, 
we think, confirm these opinions. But it is due to candor to say, that we deem 
it quite probable, if not certain, — though we have never examined this point 
with much care, — that there were other branches of the AValdenses, for they were 
numerous, which did neither hold nor practice infant baptism. It would be diffi- 
cult, upon any other hypothesis, to account for the opinion, confidently maintained, 
and, without doubt, most honestly too, by the excellent brethren who reject psedo- 
baptism, that the W^aldenses were Baptists. 



STATE OF RELIGION. 899 

are now sometimes approached, as in all parts of Italy, 
wherever a chance is furnished, by some artful and insin- 
uating Jesuit or Jesuitess — if we may so term these female 
emissaries — who seek by some means or other to bring the 
subject of religion before their minds, and first do away their 
Protestant prejudices, as they call them, and then unfold the 
claims of Romanism — its permanent faith, its gorgeous rites 
and ceremonies, its delightful music, etc., etc. 

We have stated that a large and handsome monastery has 
been lately established at La Tour, for the purpose of train- 
ing missionary priests, destined to be employed in traversing 
these valleys, and proselyting the Waldenses to the faith of 
Rome. To this establishment the order of St. Maurice and 
St. Lazarus has contributed the sum of £9,544 145. M., and 
made a grant of £680 annually, for its maintenance. The 
new church adjoining was dedicated last summer with great 
parade. 

It is evident that Rome is going to put forth her mightiest 
efforts to convert these people ; after having spent hundreds 
of years in trying to destroy/ them by persecution and war. 
The result will be looked for with great anxiety in three 
worlds ! 

XII. State of Religion among the Waldenses. 

It is the testimony of all, that true religion has been grad- 
ually, but manifestly gaining ground in the valleys during the 
last quarter of a century. A visit which that wonderful man, 
Felix Neff, made to that country about the year 1823, con- 
tributed much to this happy result. And though there is still 
a great amount of formalism among them, and the Sabbath is 
not as well observed — especially the afternoon — as it ought 



400 THE WALDENSES. 

to be, yet it is certainly true that vital piety is returning 
to the churches.^ 

We were greatly pleased to find that prayer-meetings are 
held in many of the villages and hamlets, Sunday afternoons 
and evenings, as well as sometimes during the week. And we 
were often pleased with the singing of sweet hymns, which we 
heard in our strolls through the valleys. We have witnessed 
ew scenes more enchanting, than when passing through the 
deep glens and valleys of that wonderful country, as the sun 
on a fine summer's day was fast descending to the western 
horizon. Ever and anon, we heard the bleating of the 
flocks, as they were driven home for the night, and the 
psalms that were sung by girls and boys who attended 
them, echoed and reechoed from the rocks and ravines of the 
mountain-barriers which surrounded us. The language of 
the sweet letter of Paula and Eustochium to Marcella, de- 
scribing the religious feelings and exercises of the peasants 
around Bethlehem, in the days of Jerome, might almost be 
employed respecting these simple-hearted Christians of the 
valleys : ' In every direction where there is a sound of 
human voices, it is the voice of psalmody. If it be the 
ploughman guiding his plough, his song is hallelujah ! If 
it be the shepherd tending his flock, the reaper gathering 
his corn, or the vine-dresser pruning the tendrils, his chant 
is the same ; it is some song of David that he sings. Here 
all poetry is sacred poetry, and every feeling of the heart 
finds utterance in the language of the Psalmist.' ^ 



93 One of the favorite amusements among the people is the tirata, or firing at a 
target, or mark, inasmuch as hunting the chamois goat and other game makes 
them fond of fire-arms. The young men follow this amusement much lesson the 
Sabbath afternoons than they did a few years ago ; but there is something of it still. 
It is, however, far more common on the holydays of the Roman Catholic Church, 
which the Waldenses are required, most unjustly, to keep. 

94 0/jera Hieron. vol. iv. p. -553 ; quoted in Dr. Gilly's Vigilantius^ p. 235. 



STATE OP MORALS. 401 

The Waldensian pastors experience great difficulty ii^ 
enforcing discipline, surrounded as they are by Roman 
Catholic priests, who would at once avail themselves of 
every instance of disaffection, to persuade the persons 
who might be alienated by severe and open censure, or ex- 
communication, to find refuge within the pale of Rome. 
And if a Waldensian only once goes to see a Roman Catholic 
priest, to speak with him on the subject of his becoming a 
Catholic, no one, be he minister or layman, is allowed, under 
the penalty of death, to try to save him from taking the 
step! 

A number of years ago, a sort of secession took place in 
the parish of St. Jean, because a pastor, now deceased, was 
allowed to continue to preach, whose orthodoxy was called in 
question. This has led to the formation of a party who are 
reputed to be more strict in their views, and zealous in 
behalf of the cause of vital piety, than the others. These 
are now a considerable band. And though they have to 
endure a good deal of opprobrium, being called ' momiers ' 
and ' methodistes,' ^^ yet their influence is unquestionably 
good. It is hoped that as spiritual religion gains ground, this 
division, which is incident to a state of transition, will dis- 
appear ; and that that harmony will be restored which is so 
important to the Waldenses, surrounded and pervaded as they 
are by enemies. 

Xin. State of Morals among the Waldenses. 

The Waldenses suffered very much in their morals for 
years, from the pernicious influence of the French troops, 

95 It is wonderful how uniformly the enmity of the human heart manifests itself in 
all parts of the world. The resuscitation of vital piety in the valleys of Piedmont, 
provokes the same opposition, and the same opprobrious epithejs, as it did in Eng- 
land in VSThitefield and Wesley's day, and as it has sometimes done in our country, 
and in our day. 

34* 



402 THE WALDENSES. 

that SO often traversed their valleys in the time of Napoleon, 
as well as from the bad habits which their own conscripts, in 
many cases, brought back from the armies of that modern 
Alexander, in which they were often compelled to serve, even 
in his most distant campaigns. ^ But that influence is now 
passed away, and that purity of life, which so greatly distin- 
guished their ancestors, has in a good degree returned. 
What the state of morals among these valleys was in former 
days, we may learn from what one of their bitter enemies 
says respecting them. ' Moreover, they live a life of greater 
purity than other Christians. They do not take an oath 
unless required to do so, and it is seldom that they take the 
name of God in vain. They fulfil their promises with good 
faith, and though the greater part of them are living in pov- 
erty, they maintain that they alone have preserved the 
apostolical life and doctrine. On this account they afiirm 
that the authority of the Church resides in them, as innocent 
and true disciples of Christ ; for the sake of whose faith and 
religion, they consider it honorable and glorious to live in 
want, and to suffer persecution from us.' ^^ And the distin- 
guished Roman Catholic historian, De Thou, bears this 
testimony respecting them : ' Chastity is held in high honor 
among the Waldenses ; so much so that their neighbors, 
although differing from them greatly in religion, when they 
would consult for the virtue of their daughters, through fear 
of violence from the licentious military, have committed them 
to the care and fidelity of the Waldenses.' ^ 



96 And yet Bonaparte took a deep interest in these people. One of the de- 
spatches which he dictated from Moscow, when on fire, related to a Waldensian 
pastor ! 

97 Claude Scyssel. Adv. error, et sect. Valdenses, fol. 9. Claude Scyssel, it will be 
remembered, was archbishop of Turin about the year 1500. 

98 Thuani Historia^ lib. xxvii. torn. ii. p. 19. De Thou is belter known under ihe 
Italia name of Thvanus. His History- is in both French and Latin. 



STATE OF MORALS. 403 

From all tliat we have learned of these people, from the 
best of sources, we do not hesitate to express our belief that 
it is not possible to find another community of the same 
extent, which is equally virtuous. Drunkenness, profane 
swearing, and licentiousness,^ are almost wholly unknown 
among them. What difficulties they may have among them- 
selves, chiefly relate to their lands. In general, there is a 
most delightful spirit of harmony among them. And nothing 
can be more beautiful than the kindness which pervades the 
entire population. If any of them is sick, his neighbors 
hasten to proffisr their services. They bring him bread and 
wine, and supply his lamp with oil at night, if he is in needy 
circumstances. If misfortune overtakes any of their fellow- 
citizens, whether Protestants or Eoman Catholics, they make 
up a contribution to furnish the needed succor. If any 
farmer is behind in his work, his neighbors come together 
and assist him. 

Children of misfortune, they have effectually learned to 
sympathize with the miserable. No people in the world 
could with more propriety adopt the language of the Cartha- 
ginian queen, as expressive of their own feelings : 

' Haud ignara mali, miseris succurrere disco.' 

Poor as they are themselves, and difficult as it is for them 
to sustain the gospel in their valleys, they nevertheless desire 
to do something, be it ever so little, to promote the kingdom 
of Christ elsewhere. Every year they make a collection in 
their churches, and send the sum raised to the societies at 
Geneva and Basle, to spread the Truth in France, and to 
carry it to the heathen. In the year 1825, when Holland 



99 AH the illegitimate children born in the valleys are taken by the Roman Cath- 
olics, (sometimes even by /orce,) and placed in their convents^ It is strange that 
Rome has ever manifested so much desire to get possession of such children. Is it 
because they make better priests and nuns for her purposes, having no known tiet 
to bind them to society ? 



404 THE WALDENSES. 

suffered so much from a dreadful inundation, the Waldenses 
raised a fund of three thousand francs, for the relief of the 
many families which were reduced to circumstances of com- 
plete destitution by that calamity. To raise that sum, every 
individual among them contributed something^ as we learn 
from the letter of Count Waldbourg-Truchsess, which con- 
veyed the bounty of these poor people. ' Even the little 
children,' says he, ' gave each their sou ^^ to this excellent 
charity.' 

XIV. State of Education in the Valleys, 

In nothing have the Waldenses differed more from the 
people who surround them, than a desire to give their chil- 
dren the best education which their great poverty permitted. 
Alas, however, so troublous were the times during several 
centuries, and so very poor were the greater part of them, 
and so great the difficulty of procuring books, that for many 
ages, but a small portion of them could be said to know more 
than how to read and write. Even when they became known 
to the world again, after the restoration of peace to the 
nations, in 1815, it was found that there was a sad destitution 
of schools among them. Thanks be to God, the case is now 
far different. 

In 1823, Dr. Gilly visited these valleys, and gave such an 
account of the deplorable destitution of the means of instruc- 
tion which existed, that great interest was excited in England 
in their behalf. Not only were funds collected to found a 
hospital, but considerable sums were given by liberal and 
wealthy donors, as we have already stated, to promote the 
education of the children. Through the exertions of the 
Rev. Mr. Sims and others, funds were procured to open some 
female schools of a higher order than usual. Dr. Gilly 



100 Equivalent to our cent. 



STATE OF EDUCATION. 405 

collected the very handsome sum of five thousand pounds for 
the building of a college, which had just been erected at La 
Tour, or rather in the adjoining hamlet of St. Margarita, at 
the epoch of our first visit. When we made our second tour 
in these valleys in 1843, we found the College of the Tririity, 
as it is called, in successful operation. It is a fine stone 
building, nearly one hundred feet long, three stories high, and 
covered with slate. It has several recitation or lecture 
rooms, a prayer-hall^ a library, etc. In appearance it is 
quite equal, and in the necessary furniture of library and 
other appliances, much superior to many of our Western 
colleges. It has three professors, all excellent men, and 
about fifty students, including the elementary classes in 
Latin. In fact, the Sardinian government forbids that there 
shall be more than fifteen students at one time in what may 
be called the college proper ! So jealous is it of the influ- 
ence and power which the Waldenses might attain by means 
of a thorough education of all classes. 

There is a grammar-school at Pomaret, of a high grade, 
where are some twelve or fifteen boys, prosecuting their 
studies in Latin and mathematics, under an excellent teacher. 
So that there are among the Waldenses no less than sixty or 
sixty -five youth who are prosecuting classical studies. As 
they cannot pursue any thing like philosophy, nor any pro- 
fessional studies at their college, they must go to Switzerland 
or Germany in order to prosecute them. Excepting the few 
who may be needed at home as pastors, etc., the Waldensians 
who obtain a collegiate education must expect to emigrate to 
France, or some other country, for the purpose of following 
some profession. Nor have instances been wanting of valu- 
able men from these valleys, settling in the ministry in 
France, Holland, and Germany. 

But the individual who has done most for education, and 
almost every other good object in the valleys, is Colonel Beck- 



406 THE WALDENSES. 

with, whose name we have already had occasion to mention. 
This excellent man, after losing a leg in the battle of 
Waterloo, retired from the military service of his country 
(England) with a handsome pension. ^^^ Some twenty years 
ago, having heard of the Waldenses, he went to see them ; and 
becoming greatly interCvSted in them, he has passed all his 
time among them, save a few months in the summer and 
autumn of each year, which he spends with his mother and 
sisters in his native land. As he has never married, and has 
no relatives who are dependent on his bounty, he has it in his 
power to devote the greater part of his very considerable 
income to doing good among these poor people. And it is de- 
lightful to see what he has been enabled to accomplish. Not 
only has he caused to be built, and almost wholly at his own 
expense, some ten or fifteen large and handsome parish 
school-houses, some of which will accommodate one hundred, 
or one hundred and fifty scholars, but he mainly sustains the 
teachers who give instruction in them. Not only so, he has 
been causing hamlet school -houses, plain, but sufficient stone 
structures, in a great many localities. He told us, in 1837, 
that he hoped to see one hundred and sixty schools estab- 
lished in those valleys. And we are happy to say that he 
has lived to see his desire nearly accomplished. Including 
the parish schools, and the girls' schools, there were last year 
no less than about one hundred and fifty in operation, during 
the whole or some portion of the year. And it is a delightful 
fact that there is not a child in all those valleys that may not 
now receive an education. It is true, indeed, that the boys 
and girls who are large enough to work, have to labor in the 
fields, or on the mountains, during the summer months, and 
can, in fact, rarely go to school more than two or three 

c 

101 Colonel Beckwilh visited the United States in the year 1819, and spent several 
months in the city of Baltimore, where he is affectionately remembered by some of 
the most respectable families. 



STATE OF EDUCATION. 407 

montlis in the winter, — especially those who live in the 
upper valleys, — yet they can go enough to enable them to 
acquire a valuable education. As to the boys who attend the 
grammar-school and the college, many of them come several 
miles, carrying their dinners in a basket, and manifesting a 
strong desire for knowledge. In the summer, one may see 
them coming from all directions, in the morning, or see them 
returning in the evening, a light-hearted, happy troop, often 
barefooted, and at best very plainly dressed, but showing no 
want of capacity. 

No man living is so much esteemed by the Waldenses as 
Colonel Beck with. His portrait, lithographed at Paris, and 
neatly framed, is almost the only ornament which one sees 
in many of their cottages. There he is represented, just as 
they so often see him, — with his wooden leg, his gun on his 
shoulder, and his dog at his side. Wherever he hobbles, he 
is welcome. He is known by no other name than le brave 
Colonel, and le pauvre Colonel}^^ On one of the school-houses 
in the parish of St. Jean, is an inscription to this effect: 
Whosoever passes this way, let him bless the name of Colonel 
Bechwith. What a beautiful and touching testimony to the 
worth and beneficence of an humble and unostentatious 
Christian foreigner, whom the love of Christ and of souls has 
attracted to those valleys to do good to the poorest of all 
God's people, as a community, in any part of Christendom ! 
And what makes their affection for him the more honorable 
to both, is the fact, that whilst they are Presbyterians, he is 
an Episcopalian. Both may even be said to be staunch in 
their principles. Much as they love him, and much as they 
feel under obligation to him and to Dr. Gilly, neither he nor 
the Doctor could induce them, in revising their liturgy, to make 



102 The good Colonel — the poor Colonel. The latter epithet is applied to him in 
allusion to his being lame. 



408 THE WALDENSES. 

the slightest change approximating to prelatieal views and 
forms of worship. They are determined to adhere to what 
they deem, whatever others may think, to have been apos- 
tolical doctrine, order, and practice. 

Well, indeed, may the Waldenses love the good Colonel 
Beckwith, who is an honor to our common Christianity ; for 
he is their steadfast friend, their prudent counsellor, a liberal 
benefactor to their poor people. He is continually mak- 
ing valuable suggestions, relating sometimes to the modes 
of cultivating and irrigating their lands, sometimes to im- 
provements of their roads, the construction of bridges and 
paths, as well as to the better accommodation of strangers. 
He has aided them in almost every thing; he looks after 
every thing ; his advice is sought in every thing. His post 
is very important, and he has filled it with singular prudence, 
for he has never had a difficulty with the Sardinian govern- 
ment. And, from first to last, he has probably expended 
among these people, from his own pocket, the sum of thirty 
thousand dollars. What a beautiful instance of benevolence ! 
And how great must be the luxury which he has enjoyed in 
this beneficent course of life I What an example has he 
given to rich Christians, of every land. Would to God, that 
many of them might be led to imitate it ! 

XV. Our Last Days at the Valleys, 

The last two or three days which we spent among the 
Waldenses were devoted to visiting some of the most impor- 
tant localities in the difierent valleys, and to making calls 
upon pastors whom we had not seen. One day we spent 
in a tour up the valley of Luserne, in which we had the 
pleasure of seeing the churches of Yillar and Bobi, and their 
worthy pastors, Messrs. Gay and Revel. We had also a 
view of the Rock of Sibaud, the valley of the Subiasque 



OUR LAST DAYS IN THE VALLEYS. 409 

Serre le Cruel, and other places in that part of the country, 
which are associated with the history of the Waldenses. 

Another day we spent in ascending the valley of An- 
grogna to Pra del Tor, and in learning from an intelligent 
native of these valleys, many a thrilling story connected with 
divers spots in this most romantic and most beautiful por- 
tion of all the country of these people. Just below Pra del 
Tor, is the place called the Barricade, rendered memorable 
by the defeat, in the year 1488, of a band of the enemies of 
the Waldenses, headed by a Captain Saquet, of huge size, 
who, with many others, was slain and cast headlong from 
the side of the mountain into the river, where a gulf is 
called by his name to this day. This was among the earliest 
of the bloody engagements which the Waldenses were com- 
pelled to have with their enemies in this valley. The rocks 
are still pointed out, high up on the side of the mountain, 
where the women and children were spectators of the battle, 
and upon their knees cried out, in their own language: 
Dio aiutaci I O, God help us ! And, verily, God did hear 
them, and confounded their enemies. 

We ascended the sides of the mountains, to visit some of 
the upper hamlets, and to see how the people live in their 
little stone houses. We found these abodes far from com- 
fortable. They are small, have windows of the size of a 
pane of glass with us, which are often destitute of glass. 
There are commonly two or three houses together ; one for 
a kitchen, one for a sleeping- room, and another for a stable. 
There is great want of comfort and cheerfulness in these 
little abodes. And we could not but think, that nothing in 
the world save necessity could induce us to live in such habi- 
tations. Yet we found the people uniformly cheerful, and so 
civil and hospitable, that they were every where urgent that 
we should enter their houses, and partake of such things as 
35 



410 THE WALDENSES. 

thej could set before us, — a bottle of wine, or a glass of 
milk, and a loaf of bread. ^^ 

Another day we spent in making a tour up the valleys of 
Perouse and St. Martin. At Pomaret, we saw the venera- 
ble Jalla, since dead ; and was shown the new church, in the 
front of which there is a marble tablet, in memory of the 
late pastor Peyrani, one of the most distinguished of the Wal- 
densian ministers in modern times. Whilst Cardinal Pacca 
was confined as a prisoner at the fortress of Fenestrelle, by 
order of Napoleon, he was visited by this excellent man, and 
a correspondence took place between them, in which M. 
Peyrani made a most interesting historical defence of the 
Waldenses, which has appeared in English, in a translation 
made by the Rev. Thomas Sims. Pastor Peyrani died in 
the year 1823, at the age of seventy-two. It is said that he 
was an able scholar, as much at home in every kind of 
science, as in controversy, in which he was more than a match 
for any of the Roman Catholic clergy with whom he came 
in contact. 

In our interviews with the Waldensian pastors we were 
struck with the kindness of feeling which they manifested in 
relation to their king. And many things which they stated 
to us, certainly prove that he is not wanting in a disposition 
to do them justice. He has ever been ready to contribute to 
relieve those who have suffered from fire or any other 
calamity. When approached, privately, he has always 
granted the requests which these people have made. He 
has been disposed to suffer the severe edicts, published 
against them in former times, to remain unexecuted wlien- 



103 The bread of the Waldenses is made of wheat or rye ; but often roasted chest- 
nuts, of which they have great quantities of a very large size, are ground up with 
the grain. The bread is good, and when fresh is quite palatable. The Waldenses 
commonly bake but once a year, and their bread, even when preserved with the 
greatest care, and in that pure atmosphere, becomes very hard, and difficult to eat. 



OUR LAST DATS IN THE VALLEYS. 411 

ever he could. The Waldenses believe, that if he could have 
his own way, he would be every thing that they could desire. 
But, poor man, there is a power behind the throne^ in the 
Roman Catholic hierarchy, which he dares not provoke, for 
it is too powerful for him to resist. ^^ But whatever goes 
wrong, the Waldenses, with a charity which is certainly very 
lovely and very remarkable, are not willing to believe that 
the king is the author of it, or that, if he knows it, he can 
prevent it. 

The Waldenses are a most grateful people. It was de- 
lightful to hear them, as we did continually, express their 
obligations to the Christians of England and other Prot- 
estant countries, for the succor which had been so often and 
so liberally given them in the days of their calamity and of 
their need. Sure we are, that British, and Dutch, and Ger- 
man, and Swiss Christians have received an ample recom- 
pense for all that they have done for these poor brethren in 
Christ, in the heartfelt petitions which this grateful people 
have addressed to the Throne of Grace, in their behalf. 
There is something here far higher, and holier, and better 
than a mere pecuniary equivalent. How many blessings 
may not the churches in England and other countries have 
received in answer to their prayers ! 

There was nothing which gratified us more, when among 
these people, than to observe their interest in the Church of 
Christ in other lands. They know by experience the bless- 
edness of the communion of the saints. With what eager- 
ness they inquired about the churches in the United States ; 
and how delighted they were to hear of the progress of the 
Truth, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the conversion 

104 In some cases, the injustice which the Waldenses suffer is so flagrant, that it 
is wonderfal that the government of Sardinia is not ashamed-. For instance, their 
taxes and imports are one third higher than are those of the Roman Catholics living 
in the valleys. 



412 THE WALDENSES. 

of souls to Christ ! Such news, from a far country, was 
truly refreshing to their spirits. Often they desired to know 
whether Christians in our country are acquainted with their 
history and present position ; and they charged us to salute, 
upon our return to our native land, the churches of America, 
in their name. They also desired that our churches would 
pray for them, that they might be preserved in peace in their 
native valleys, for they do not wish to quit them. They re- 
quested also that we would ask our churches to pray, that 
God would pour out his Spirit upon their youth, and call 
many of them to preach His gospel in France, and other 
lands. 

And when we look at the position of these people, and see 
how God has preserved them, we cannot but believe that He 
has a great work for them to do, in promoting His gospel, 
when the way shall be opened for it in Italy, as it is now in 
France. That that day may come speedily, how earnestly 
ought we to pray ! On this subject we should like to dwell 
long, for it is one of great importance. 

The Waldenses need popular libraries for their villages 
and hamlets. They have but few books, and greatly desire 
more. They also need to have seven more churches and 
seven more pastors. And we sincerely hope, that the 
churches of our country will insist upon having the honor of 
giving them the means of repairing the old dilapidated 
temples which remain among them, and of sustaining the 
additional ministers whom they need. 

But at length we had to bid adieu to the dear Christians 
of these valleys, and turn our faces towards Switzerland. 
And many, many were the times that we turned to catch 
another, and still another view of these beautiful mountains, 
as we pursued our way to Pignerol, and thence to Turin. 
Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied to our brethren in 



THE WALDENSES. 413 

Christ, who dwell in the midst of them ! May God ever 
surround them as with a shield ! 

We conclude our notices of this interesting people, whose 
churches have rightly been called the ' elder sisters ' (soeurs 
ainees) of those of the Protestants, with the following verses. 



THE WALDENSES 



God's eye was on you, blest and happy race ! 

God's hand was with you, holy men and true ! 
No common kindness smiled upon His face ; 

No common love was testified to you. 
In your rude homes His presence oft ye knew ; 

And from the quiet of your valleys driven, 
The rocks that glorious martyrdom did view, 

That sealed the witness which your lives had given, 
And changed the woes of earth for all the bliss of heaven. 

II. 

And these are they who, through great tribulation. 

Have washed their garments white in the Lamb's blood ; 
Who ofi'er at the throne the heart's oblation, 

Made glad forever by the love of God. 
Of these earth was not worthy ; though they trod 

The lowly paths of life, and wandered o'er 
Their dreary rocks, 'neath persecution's rod. 

Yet Thou, whose praise they were created for, 
Hast made them priests and kings to God, forevermore. 



35* 



ERRATA. 

Fc^e 32, last line of the poetry, for swells^ read smells. 
" 73, eighth line from the bottom, for Galeazzo and Caraecioli^ read GaUazzo 

Caraccioli. 
" 81, first note, for 4551, read 1551. 

" 121, in the note, for Francesco Nigro^ read Francesco Nigri, 
" 181, 13th line from the bottom, for Church of Pietro^ in Vincoli at JRonUi read 

Church ofPietro-in- Vincoli, at Rome, 
" 353, 3d line from the bottom, for port, read fort» 
" 361, 15th line from the top, for three, read/cwr. 



INDEX. 



Algieri, Pomponio, his happy death 

as a martyr, pp. 123, 124. 
Aldine Press, notice of, 45. 
Altieri, Baltassare, 53. 
Alexander VI., 26. 
Ambrose, archbishop of Milan, 16. 
Angrogna, valley of, 326 - 328 ; parish 

of, 327. 
Architecture, progress in, 180. 
Arnaldo da Brescia, his hfe and 

death, 19-23. 
Augustinians, 214, 215. 

Balsi, fortress of, 325 ; siege of, 358. 

Barbieri, Giuseppe, a celebrated 
preacher, 236. 

Bartoccio, Bartolomeo, his trium- 
pliant death, 130, 131. 

Beccaria, Giovanni, 58. 

Beckwith, Colonel, 368 ; his munifi- 
cence towards the Waldenses, 
405-408. 

Benedictines, their origin and his- 
tory, 212-214. 

Bobi, parisli and village of, 310-312. 

Books, destruction of, 133-136. 

Borromeo, Charles, archbishop of 
Milan, his unworthy conduct, 148. 

Brucioli, Antonio, 64, 65. 

Carafla, Cardinal, 82, 83, 85 ; letter to 

Ochino, 86, 87 ; a Theatine monk, 

207. 
Carmelites, their origin and history, 

215. 
Carnesecchi, Pietro, 53 ; his history 

and death, 126-128. 
Caraccioli, son of prince Melphi, 73. 
Caraccioli, Galeazzo, his history, 

154-156. 



Casabianca, Domenico, his death, 
121. 

Chapels, Protestant, in Italy, 262- 
282; at Rome, 265; Naples, 268; 
Messina, 270 ; Palermo, 271 ; Leg- 
horn, 271; Florence, 272 ; Venice, 
273 ; Genoa, 274 ; Bergamo, 275 ; 
Milan, 275; Turin, 276; Nice, 278. 

Chaplains in the Neapolitan army, 
279. 

Civilization, Progress of, in Italy 
since the Reformation, 176-180. 

Charles Albert, present king of Sar- 
dinia, his disposition towards the 
Waldenses, 411. 

Claude of Turin, his testimony in 
behalfoftheTruth, 16, 17. 

Clergy, Roman Catholic, in Italy, 
character of, 238-242. 

CoQciliatore, and its authors, 192, 193. 

Controversies, among the Protest- 
ants in Italy, 74-78. 

Council of Trent, 224-227. 

Craig, John, notice of, 131-133. 

Curio, Secundo Celio, 56, 57 ; es- 
capes from Italy, 8S, 89 ; his death, 
152, 153. 

Dante, his opinion of Rome, 30, 31. 

De Rossi, 237. 

Distinguished Ladies in Italy, who 

embraced the Reformed Doctrine, 

78, 79. 
Dominicans, their origin and history, 

216, 217. 

Education in Italy, 183-190; Edu- 
cation in Tuscany, 185; in Aus- 
trian Italy, 185- ISS. 

Erasmus, notice of, 39, 40. 



416 



INDEX. 



Ercole, or Hercules, Duke of Fer- 
rara, 60-63. 

Fannio, Faventino, his martyrdom, 

120, 121. 
Filicaja, his sonnet, entitled ' Italia,' 

199. 
Flacio, Matteo, (Matthgeus Flacius 

lUyricus,) 54. 
Folengo, Gianbattista, 57. 
Fontana, Baltassare, 58. 
Franciscans, their origin and history, 

216, 217. 

Gamba, Francesco, his martyrdom, 

124. 
GentiHs, Matteo, and his sons, 68. 
Gilly, Dr., his interest in behalf of 

the Waldenses, 366, 367. 
Grisons, Canton of, description of it, 

137-149. 

Hmten, Ulrich Von, notice of, 41. 

Index Expurgatorius, its history, 
133-135. 

Inquisition, its reorganization in Italy, 
89. 

Italian Churches abroad, — in the 
Grisons and their Dependencies, 
137-149. In Switzerland, 149- 
153. At Geneva, 153-157. In 
France, 158. In Germany, 159- 
161. In the Netherlands, 161, 162. 
In London, 163-164. 

Italy before the Reformation, 13-36. 
At the Reformation, 37 -51. Since 
the Reformation, 169-286. Politi- 
cal changes in Italy since the Re- 
formation, 170-176. Progress of 
Civilization since the Reforma- 
tion, 176-179. Progress in the 
Fine Arts, 180-183. State of Ed- 
ucation since the Reformation, 
183-190. State of Literature since 
the Reformation, 190- 193. Politi- 
cal and Social State at present, 
193-202. State of Religion in 
Italy since the Reformation, 203 - 
261. 

Jesuits, their organization and his- 
tory, 218-224. 

Lainez, 221. 

La Tour, parish and village of, 307 - 
309. 



Learning, Revival and Influence of 

in Italy, 28-30, 37. 

Liguori, his life and Morals^ 235, 236. 

Literature, in Italy since the Refor- 
mation, 190-193. Sacred Litera- 
ture in Italv since the Reforma- 
tion, 235-238. 

Lojano, Padre, 236. 

Loyola, Ignatius, 220. 

Lupetino, Baldo, 53. 

Luserne, valley of, 307-313. 

Macel, parish of, 322. 

Maio, Cardinal, 237. 

Manricha, Isabella, 78. 

Manzolli, Angelo, 81. 

Maneille, parish of, 321. 

Martyr, or Martire, at Naples, 72, 73 ; 
flies from Italy, 87; visits Switzer- 
land and England, 149 ; his death, 
150. 

Mezzofanti, Cardinal, 237. 

Mirabouc, 312 ; its surrender, and the 
plot connected v^ith that event, 
363. 

MoUio, John, (S5\ his martyrdom, 
121-123. 

Monastic Establishments in Italy, 
state of, 242-250. 

Morality, state of in Italy, 253-258. 

Morata, Olympia, notice of, 60 ; her 
death, 160-161. 

Music, progress in, 182, 183. 

Nicolini, notice of his Ariialdo da 

Brescia^ 197. 

Ochino, Bernardino, at Naples, 71, 
72; flies from Italy, 86; visits En- 
gland, 149; his death, 150, 151. 

Obscure Men, Letters from, 41, 42. 

Orders, Religious, new ones created 
and old ones renewed, 208-224. 

Paganism in the Church, 15, 16. 
Painting, progress in, 182. 
Paleario, Aonio, notice of, 69; his 

death, 128-130. 
Pascal i, Ludovico, his martyrdom, 

125, 126. 
Paulicians, their origin and history, 

17, 18. 
Pellico, Silvio, 192. 
Perez, Juan, 157. 
Perouse, valley of, 315-318. 
Petrarch, his opinions of the Church 

of Rome, 31 -33. 



INDEX. 



417 



Planitz, John, ambassador of Sax- 
ony, letter to, from Bologna, 66 - 68. 

Pomaret, parish and village of, 319 ; 
Grammar School of, 409. 

Pra del Tor, 32S. 

Pragela, Waldenses extirpated from, 
361. 

Prali, parish of, 324. 

Pramol, parish of, 317. 

Praruslin, parish of, 316. 

Protestantism and Romanism, new 
vigor returning to both, 233-235. 

Reformation felt to be needed, 34, 
35, 51 ; a difficult work, 35, 36 ; its 
entrance into Italy, 37-51 ; prepa- 
ration for it, 37 ; circumstances 
which favored its entrance into 
Italy, 47-50. Progress of the Re- 
formation in Italy, — at Venice, 
52-56; at Milan, 56, 57 ; at Man- 
tua, 57, 58 ; at Locarno, 5S, 59 ; at 
Capo d'Istria, 59; at Ferrara. 60- 
63 ; at Modena, 63 ; at Florence, 
64, 65 ; in the Slates of the Church, 
65; (Bologna, etc. 68 ; ) at Lucca, 
Pisa, and Sienna, 69, 70 ; in the 
Two Sicilies, (Naples, etc.) 70- 
74. Suppression of the Reforma- 
tion at Modena, 91, 92 ; at Ferrara, 
92-94; at Venice, 97-100; at Lo- 
carno, 100-104; at Milan, Mantua, 
and Cremona, 1 04, 105 ; at Lucca, 
105-107; at Florence, 107, 108; 
at Naples, 108-110; in Calabria, 
110-117: in the Pope's Domin- 
ions, 117-120. 

Religion of the Italians, its charac- 
ter, 250. 

Rende, or Renata, Duchess of Fer- 
rara, 60-63, 93-97. 

Reuchlin, notice of, 38; his quarrel 
with the Dominicans, 40, 41. 

Rodoret, parish of, 323. 

Romanism, reaction in favor of, 227- 
232; against it, 233-239. 

Riccio, Paolo, 63. 

Rome awakes to a sense of danger, 
203-208. 

Rora, valley of, 313-315 ; parish of, 
313, 314. 

RosseUi, his letter to Melancthon, 54, 
55. 

Rovere, Lavinia della, 79. 

Sadolelij Cardinal, 82. 



Savonarola, his life, doctrines, and 

death, 23-28 
Sculpture, progress in, 181. 
Siffns, encouraging, respecting Italy, 

258-261. 
Socinus, Lelius, 150. 
St. Germain, parish of, 316, 317. 
St. Januarius, fete of, 253. 
St. Jean, parish of, 307. 
St. Martin, valley of, 318-326. 
Study of the Scriptures, advances in 

Italy, 44-46. 

Translations of the Scriptures into 

Italian, by whom made, 47, 48. 
Trent, Council of, 224-227. 
Truth, struggles for, 14, 15. 
Turchi, Bishop, 236. 

Valdes, Juan, 70, 71. 
Valteline, description of it, 146, 147. 
Venice, persecutions at, 99, 100. 
Varaglia, Godfredo, his martyrdom, 

124, 125. 
Vergerio, Pierpalo, 59. 
Vergerio, Gianbattista, 59, 98. 
Victor Amadeus IL, 360, 361. 
Villar, parish and village of, 309, 

310 ; Gunpowder plot of, 310. 
Ville Seche, parish of, 320 ; bloody 

scene in the same, 320, 321. 
Visits to the Valleys, by the author, 

369-374. 

Waldenses, their name, 286; their 
origin, 287; their own opinions 
respecting their origin, 288-291; 
testimony of their enemies on this 
subject, 291 ; why called Leonists, 
293-295; testimony of Rorenco 
and others, 295 ; opinion of VoUaire 
respecting their origin, 297 ; opin- 
ions of distinguished Protestants, 
298 ; their antiquity attested by 
their dialect, 299, 300; notice of 
their country, 301-330 ; their num- 
ber, 337; their missionary spirit, 
338-341 ; first persecution of, 341- 
343. Crusades against, 343-345. 
Persecution under Emanuel Phili- 
bert, 346 ; horrible persecution in 
1655, 349 ; last war, 354-356 ; theur 
glorious return, 357-359;^ their 
subsequent history, 362-365; re- 
newed interest in their behalf, 
365-368 ; their present state, 369- 



418 



INDEX. 



413 ; names of their pastors, 376 ; 
style of preaching among them, 
378 ; public worship, 381 ; their 
liturgy 383 ; their church polity, 
386-394; their doctrines, 394- 
398 ; state of religion, 399 ; state of 
morals, 401 ; education, 404 ; need 
of popular libraries, 412 ; hymn to, 
413. 



Waldo, Peter, 325 ; his followers, 

336. 
Writings of the Reformers penetrate 

into Italy, 42-44. 

Zanchi, Jerome, notice of, 159, 160. 



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